Letters Letter From the Editor Letter From the Editor Welcome to the May issue of MORNING STAR. The Lord continues to bless this magazine as it crosses the globe by way of electronic bulletin boards. Our most recent letter to the editor came from a neighbor in Ontario Canada. MORNING STAR has reached at least sixteen countries to date, possible more by the time you finish reading this issue! Speaking of this issue, we hope you enjoy reading it. The theme this month is Israel. With all the (distorted) negative media publicity that country gets, the stories in this magazine should prove a breath of fresh air. This May marks the 44th anniversary of the current nation of Israel and we will be sending copies of this magazine to friends currently living in the Jewish state. We continue to receive good reports from all across America that articles from this magazine are being used in evangelizing, teaching and preaching. Praise God for that! MORNING STAR, in its entirety, may be copied and distributed freely by anyone. There is no need to write us for permission. However, copyrighted articles which we were given the right to reprint in MORNING STAR, may not be reprinted and distributed by themselves. All such articles are so noted. As I've mentioned in the past, the entire staff of this magazine works on a volunteer basis and all hold down full time jobs. We don't ask for monetary contributions, but if any of you were wondering if you can help out in some way ... the answer is a mighty YES! Although we do reprint articles from other Christian publications, our goal is to provide as much original material as possible in each issue of MORNING STAR. Unfortunately, our staff is small and our editors do all too much writing, researching, interviewing, proofreading etc., which is causing us to fall behind a little bit each month. (This issue was released almost two weeks after the original deadline.) 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In service to Jesus the Messiah, Toby Trudel MORNING STAR accepts literary contributions from believers wherever they may live. It is our policy to publish testimonies as they are originally submitted with minimal alteration of the text. Opinions stated in these testimonies do not necessarily reflect those of the MORNING STAR staff. The content of MORNING STAR does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of any computer network. Your Letters Your Letters "I was delighted to download from Canada Remote Systems in Mississauga, your online Christian magazine ... These magazines are jam-packed with terrific information and helps for growing Christians and I just love them ..." Jeannine Robinson Mississauga, Ontario, Canada "I thought the magazine Morning Star was great. I didn't know that such a thing could be done. It is wonderful that the gospel can be proclaimed by way of a computer. Keep up the good work!" Bill Simon Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania "I like Morning Star very much and gave it favorable mention in 'Christian News', an independent Lutheran newspaper I free lance write for." David M. Becker Reston, Virginia "... thanks a million for uploading the latest stack of Morning Star to the Religion & Ethics library. I hope more people start looking at it because it's a nicely-done and interesting publication." Chet Day Los Angeles, California "I really appreciate Morning Star Magazine. What great possibilities you have for communicating the gospel. I just finished reading the DEC 1991 issue, with the personal testimonies of those who have been redeemed from homosexuality ..." Mike McNary Atlanta, Georgia Commentary Commentary Our Commentary column this month was written by Zola Levitt and is from the March 1992 LEVITT LETTER. We thank Zola Levitt Ministries for granting us permission to reprint this article. ------------------------- THANK GOD FOR THOSE 44 YEARS! By Zola Levitt "About three years ago during a visit to Israel, I was contacted by Yehuda Levi, the President and Publisher of the Jerusalem Post, Israel's widely respected English-language newspaper. I was asked to write an article appropriate to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention held each January in Washington, D.C. I was honored, of course. I wrote this piece, which turned out to be a history - spiritual and political - of Israel since the first century. Under the present difficult political circumstances we thought it would be appropriate to repeat these thoughts and we are glad to share them with you now." There was probably a kind of "National Religious Broadcaster's Convention" back in A.D. 67 when the Romans besieged Jerusalem in one of those seemingly endless Holy Land holy wars. The organization was probably called something more like the "The Empire-Wide Spiritual News Broadcasters' Association," and the location was probably on a comfortable Greek island. The "broadcasting" was largely in writing and largely by ship and by runner, but the job was the same in principle: cover the religious world of the day in light of Scripture, history, various sectarian points of view, etc.. And interestingly, the major news issue of the day was probably very similar to one of our major issues: Do the Jews really own all of Israel, or should the country be partitioned, or should they clear out altogether? The same factions were divided over the matter in the same ways as they are today. The biblical group practicing the brand new Judeo-Christian ethic must have argued, "God gave the land to Abraham and his seed forever. He said the covenant was 'everlasting'" (Gen. 12:3). A secular contingent who did not view the Scriptures with favor probably pointed out that "the Jews haven't been in control in Israel for centuries. Let the Romans administrate the place. They can let everybody come and go as they please. Jerusalem will be an 'international city.'" And then there were probably myriad non-biblical religious sects saying everything from, "My ancestors were here since the time of Ishtar and Moloch," to, "The Jews took my grandfather's farm." Naturally the fate of Israel wasn't up to the members of the media, but, then as now, their views were influential. Some probably tried to "broadcast" evenhandedly, as some do today, and some probably broadcast partisan views and propaganda, as some do today. In any case, with hindsight we can see the results of what happened with Israel at that critical time and for the following nineteen centuries. The Roman siege came to a bloody ending at Jerusalem, the rest of Israel and Masada, and the empire administrated the Holy Land with an iron fist. If people could come and go freely, they surely weren't Jews, whose members were thinned with Holocaust-like precision. By the time the lunatic emperor Hadrian consummated his personal final solution to the Jewish problem, the Israeli nation virtually went out of existence. Israel was Palestine, Jerusalem was Aelia Capitalina, and the Jewish people, with Roman blessing, became a pesky footnote in history. A small number persisted with their Yom Kippur wailing at their indestructible Western Wall, but God's covenant with His friend Abraham was effectively null and void. The land itself didn't do very well under Roman rule. It declined and fell with the decline and fall of Rome until a newly minted religion took it over entirely. The Moslems with their long swords and short supply line came to stay. They resanctified Jerusalem in the 7th century, making it significant in the career of Mohammed, who, they claimed, traced his lineage back to father Abraham. This strange rereading of the ancient patent prevails today. Thus the world had a long look at one of the three original alternatives for the fate of the Holy Land - giving it to the secular forces of Rome. Broadcasters who originally held to that view would have wanted to change their position with hindsight. The place never prospered because its original owners, the children of Israel, had been run off. No one else treated it with much love. The ensuing centuries of Moslem rule were a story of almost nonstop bloodshed. The Arab tradition of settling disputes with the teeth rather than the tongue dominated Middle Eastern affairs. The land was contested constantly, and as a result, it suffered. Relatively brief appearances of the self-styled Christian armies of Europe brought no improvement. Lessons in love from the Crusaders were lost on those they massacred. When the Turks rode in, reforestation received a new meaning. These crude conquerors replaced the precious trees of the Holy Land with saltwater swamps. In the absence of its true owners, Israel was desecrated. Not until the arson of today's intifada was the Holy Land so purposefully reduced in beauty, value and comfort. God's country became barren and very nearly uninhabitable. Israel in pagan religious hands proved no better than Israel in Roman hands. This solution was not workable either. The rest of the sad story of Israel under occupying regimes is within modern recollection. The armies of two world wars used the Promised Land as a battlefield when convenient. The British made every possible effort to keep the true owners out, valiantly postponing the moment of recovery that would finally ensue when Abraham's rightful descendants returned. But finally, in spite of the Romans, the Moslems, the Crusaders, the Turks and the British, the children of Israel did return, in an amazing fulfillment of voluminous biblical prophecy. And at last the land at they loved received a little overdue care. The real solution to the dilemma of who ought to have Israel was finally obvious. The land truly received some healing when the Jewish people took it back in 1948. Trees were planted by the hundreds of millions. Swamps were drained, and one of mankind's deadliest foes, malaria, was eliminated from Israel. Irrigation was utilized wholesale to reclaim fertile territories from the wilderness, and soon the most magnificent visions of the prophets could be seen in the Promised Land; truly, "the desert blossomed as a rose." The local populations prospered. Arabs who had lived in the land for centuries suddenly had the modern world delivered to their doorsteps or, in some case, to their tents. Water became plentiful and clean; doctors appeared within reach of every village, inoculating children and treating their parents. Schools were constructed throughout the land. Life spans increased dramatically. The Jews, wanderers for almost two millennia, brought the 20th century back with them to their land. Thus the world has seen some 600 years of Roman rule, about 1300 years of on-and-off Moslem rule and 44 years of Jewish rule in the land of Israel. Thank God for those last 44 years! Nobody loves a land like its rightful owner. If we are the new generation of religious broadcasters and if we again have the talc of opinionating about the land of Israel, the let us learn from history. The secular forces who have controlled this ancient land merely exploited it. The alien religious forces abused the land and failed to keep up with the times. Only the chosen people of the Bible, to whom the land was given scripturally, have really cared for it. Biblically, a great new kingdom is coming, and it will be headquartered in Israel. After millennia of strife, the land really does need this 1000 years of peace. If our religious-broadcasting brethren of the first century were divided over who should control this important land, we should not be. As Israel is prepared for its greatest role, the earthly home of the Kingdom of Peace, let us give it to those whom God gave it at the beginning. The children of Abraham will care for His land. And as the Psalmist admonished: "Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper who love thee!" (Ps.122:6). Staff List Morning Star Staff List MORNING STAR STAFF LIST EDITOR IN CHIEF Toby Trudel - Nashua, NH SENIOR EDITOR - Biblical Department Geoffrey Kragen - Roseville, CA SENIOR EDITOR - Christian Life Department Teresa Giordanengo - Canonsburg, PA SENIOR LITERARY EDITOR Al Murillo III - El Paso, TX ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jerry Johnson - Modesto, CA Clark Stephens - Huntington Beach, CA Dale Strand - Dublin, CA J.C. Trudel - Naples Park, FL Mike Wilkinson - Citrus Heights, CA Dr. Charles Wootten - Matoaca, VA SENIOR PUBLISHER - DOS and WINDOWS Editions Steve Paulovich - Derry, NH NETWORK DISTRIBUTION AMERICA ONLINE Network: Jerry White - Germantown, MD COMPUSERVE Network: Kay Hall - Cocoa Beach, FL GENIE Network: Mike Wilkinson - Citrus Heights, CA DELPHI Network: Derrick Shipman - Greenville, SC DIRECTOR OF BBS DISTRIBUTION - USA Walter H. Bauer Jr. - Sugar Land, TX MSDOOR PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION Alan Graff - Wheelersburg, Ohio INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION Sharon Sanders - Jerusalem, Israel Lars Storstrand - Minde, Norway Peter Cunliffe - Noisiel, France Roger J. Obe - Iloilo City, Philippines Scott Walters - Punchbowl, NSW, Australia David Faris - Yaounde, Cameroun OFFICE SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN Patrick Auriemma - Nashua, N.H. Features Thoughts After Visiting Israel and the Holy Land Thoughts After Visiting Israel and the Holy Land by Stan Sholar THOUGHTS AFTER VISITING ISRAEL AND THE HOLY LAND By Dr. M.Stan Sholar Huntington Beach, CA Flight to Tel Aviv In flying to Tel Aviv I took Delta Airlines to Munich and transferred to Israel's El Al Airlines. The check-in at Munich was my first experience with the detailed security procedures exercised by the Israelis. We left the main terminal in Munich and proceeded to a gate that was the entrance into the El Al terminal. There were several guards with machine guns drawn. The first step in the process was for each passenger to be interrogated individually for 15 to 30 minutes. The Israelis doing this were well schooled in these procedures. Of particular concern to them was the fact that I was going to Tel Aviv from Los Angeles, California, via Munich. The reason I did was that I joined up with some friends in Atlanta. Otherwise I could have taken El Al from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv via Boston or New York. Munich must be a particularly troublesome entry point. I was asked repeatedly if I had spent the night in Munich even though my tickets contradicted this. There were a lot of questions regarding my baggage concerning the possibility that someone else could have planted a bomb in them. After passing through this stage of investigation I proceeded to another room where my bags were thoroughly searched, even after all of the interrogation. This included taking a picture of the wall with my camera. Then came a rather complete physical search. After passing through all this into the waiting room, I felt very comfortable and secure in the knowledge that all of the fellow passengers had undergone the same process. Now I know a little better why many say that El Al is the safest of airlines in the middle east. El Al is run well with excellent service. The only Israeli newspaper that I read on board was in German and described the 2 feet of snowfall in Jerusalem the previous day. It was the worst snowstorm there in 40 years, leaving roads closed, trees down, schools closed, and power outages. The airplane food was good. This was my first introduction to Houmous, a popular Israeli snack that is a tasty dip made of Garbanzo beans and spices eaten with Pita bread. The flight took us to the north of Yugoslavia to avoid the ongoing conflicts. This provided a marvelous opportunity to view the snow capped Austrian Alps, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. Then out into the sea, the islands of Greece and the south coast of Turkey were outstanding in the afternoon sun. The Mediterranean was beautiful in its placid blue appearance. We passed directly over Crete and headed for the east shore and Israel. The plane begins descending well out over the sea in preparation for landing at Ben Gurion airport. There is a magnificent view of Tel Aviv as you pass over the tall hotels near the shore, the rest of the city, and on to Ben Gurion, 10 kilometers east. There was evidence of flooding of agricultural lands from the recent storms that produced much rainfall in the milder climate of the coast. Landing at Ben Gurion provides a view of a substantial number of military planes, some new and some quite old. There were even DC-3s in camouflage paint, at least 50 years old. The flights do not maintain a rigid schedule, perhaps for security reasons. Also they do not park at the terminal but on the apron in a remote area, where buses carry passengers to the terminal. Security and passport control were straightforward. We changed some money into the New Israeli Shekel (NIS), about 2.3 per US$ and hailed a cab for the Dan Panorama Hotel in downtown Tel Aviv. Israeli drivers are world class when it comes to aggressiveness. They could hold their own in Boston, at the Arch of Triumph, in Rome, or anywhere. The trick in not being left behind is to avoid eye contact. Once you have made eye contact you are stopped dead in the water, never to find a person to let you back into the flow of traffic. But put your head down and step on the gas, and miraculously you are not struck. The Dan Panorama Hotel is on the southern part of the coast, just north of the ancient town of Jaffa. There is a chain of Dan hotels, I suppose named for the nearby area where the tribe of Dan lived. It is a very modern hotel with lots of amenities for the business traveler. All I needed was a bed, however, as I had left Los Angeles one morning and arrived in Tel Aviv the next evening with little sleep. Trip to Jerusalem The next day was the Sabbath or Shabbat. The Israeli workweek begins on Sunday and continues through Friday up until the beginning of Shabbat near sundown. The plan was to take a van and visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The driver reported that the road to Jerusalem was closed with snow and accidents. However, our tour guide exhibited a bit of Israeli philosophy that I came to recognize consistently during the visit. It was simply that the trouble on the road was only alleged to be a problem. One has to drive up to see if this is so. The guide advised us to venture on and if it were indeed true, we would simply return. Only if we see the closed road with our own eyes can we know that it is truly the case. Another theme was that things change quickly and that the blockage could be cleared up by the time we arrived at Jerusalem. This turned out to be the case. We drove the 38 miles to Jerusalem, through the Jerusalem corridor, over roads of melting snow, in about one hour. A more circuitous route was required before the six day war in 1967. Some of the rusting tanks from the earlier war of independence have been left along the wayside as monuments to the capturing of this strategic artery from the Arabs. Now the surrounding territory with Judea to the south and Samaria to the north is known variously as the occupied territory, Palestine, or the west bank. The main highway is modern and easy to drive up the climb to Jerusalem. In ancient times we would have been leaving the plains of the Philistines and moving into the foothills that were the stronghold of the Israelites. I must have been very close to Samson's home and the battleground of David and Goliath. There were orange groves on both sides whose trees were loaded with the famous Jaffa oranges. We passed the Ben Gurion airport. Climbing the hills leads to the strategically important crossroads and valleys of many wars. This area relates to the Maccabees, which I learned is pronounced with the accent on the second, not the first, syllable. Also warring there were the Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, and the British in World War I. The Jordanians were driven out in the War of Independence. I was taken in by the very idea of travelling through the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. He didn't have much land for his tribe was small. This conjured up remembrances of Sunday School flannel board lessons. I couldn't believe I was seeing the real thing. As soon as I had about as much awe as I could handle, some new site would be pointed out such as Emmaus. This is the place where Jesus was first seen after the Resurrection. There are ruins here of Byzantine and Crusader churches. As we neared the crest I could see through the Cyprus trees along the road a hint of a beautiful white city sprawling over several hills. It soon appeared in all of its glory, the capital of civilization, the capital of the modern State of Israel, and the site of the coalescence of three religions. There are many common denominators here like Abraham and Solomon, but history has seen the divergence into the Christian, Jewish, and Moslem paths, all with roots in this one place. Of course most Jews do not recognize the Messiah of Christianity, and the Moslem's most sacred place is Mecca. But the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the second most sacred place for the Arabs. It is advisable to make a thorough review of the history of Jerusalem before touring its many interwoven paths. I was glad to have spent some time doing this before the trip, but it was not nearly enough. I now have a reading list as long as my arm for preparation for the next trip, the Bible being number one. We circled the Old City, with separate Arab and Jewish sectors, readily noted the encircling 16th century Turkish wall, and headed past Mount Scopus for the Mount of Olives. This must be a favorite first stop for tourists because of the commanding view of the Old City to the west and the Jordan River to the east. Jerusalem, being about 5000 years old, has been layered by a long succession of wars that leveled parts of the city, each being rebuilt on top of the rubble of the previous destruction. Many of the interesting sites are 20 to 40 meters below the current ground level. There is much excavation in the areas of the Temple, and the sites of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Still there is so much labor involved with archeology; there will be places to explore for many generations to come. Driving to and standing on the Mount of Olives produced a surge of mixed emotions. First, it is a small place that was reached by a very narrow and ordinary road, not a grand and glorious boulevard. Being a tourist spot and in the Arab side of town, there were many Arab souvenir vendors aggressively hawking postcards, carvings and camel rides. There were some physical scufflings and our guide had to get firm with some of them. This was a daunting distraction to me while trying to soak in the profound significance of the locale. For example, not far up the hill behind me was the Church of the Ascension, perhaps on the spot where Jesus ascended into Heaven. As I looked out over the city, it occurred to me that this is the spot where Jewish tradition believes that the Messiah will come and call the living and the dead. Immediately below the Mount of Olives as you look toward the city are a large number of graves that Jews have chosen, so as to be among the first resurrected. Just beyond that is the Kidron Valley and the Garden of Gethsemane and beyond that the near wall of the Old City. It is an exercise to study the changing map of the Old City throughout time. The Temple to the Lord was built by Solomon the Wise around 1000 B.C. and was there for Isaiah and Jeremiah. In 587 B.C. it was razed by the Babylonians. It was rebuilt 50 years afterward and later expanded and used by Herod at the time of Christ. It was destroyed again, along with the entire city, in 70 A.D. as Jesus had told. The city fell into Muslim hands for the Middle Ages and was devoid of its past glory until captured by Allenby in 1917. What an enigma that the city whose very name means City of Peace and the home of the Prince of Peace has had to endure over 30 conquests. One of the current sources of threat to continued peace can be seen from the Mount of Olives. All one has to do is look away from the city and view the Jordan Valley to the east as it descends to the Jordan River, with Jordan being on the opposite side. The term "west bank" that is used to describe the occupied territory refers to the land to the west of the Jordan River but east of the narrow strip of Israel as it existed before the 6 days war. There is a collection of kibutzes (kibutzim in Hebrew) along the fertile banks of the Jordan from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea. I was able to see into Jordan from atop the mount and also see the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is to the north. That is the mother country of many of the Arabs, born in Palestine, whose birthplace is now disconnected from Jordan. The proliferation of kibutzim is a major issue amongst participants in the current peace talks. The fertile lands of the west bank have been farmed by the Arabs for many years. The Jews only occupy lands that were government, not private. These lands are not very desirable because they are mostly stoney desert with little or no irrigation. Nevertheless, what has evolved is a total geographical intertwining of these two incompatible cultures. The Jews appear willing to continue a coexistence. The Arabs want total control of their homeland restored to them. I don't believe that the U.S. will be able to resolve this standoff. The Bible has a lot to say about this unfolding of history. We descended to the Jaffa gate, one of 8 city gates, and came first upon the western or wailing wall. Being Shabbat, there were many Jews praying. I quickly took a picture only to find out that it was forbidden to photograph the wailing wall on Shabbat. It took some doing to keep my film. The western wall is the closest that Jews can come to the site of the Temple without entering and being in danger of walking on holy ground. Therefore, they are not praying to the wall but through it to the suspected site of the Second Temple. The wall is part of the large box like structure of retaining walls that Herod had built around Mount Moriah in the expansion project of the Second Temple, built much earlier around 500 B.C. by the Jews returning from exile. The stones in this wall built by Herod the Great go back to the year 1 B.C. Entering through the Jaffa gate we proceeded past a small Mosque and came upon the Dome of the Rock. Leaving the Temple area we proceeded to the series of pathways and streets known as the Way of the Cross, and also Via Dolorosa. This is the path that Jesus followed when he carried his cross from the location of the trial to the place where he was crucified and buried, Calvary or Golgotha. Some segments are narrow and wind through dense collections of Arab bazaar type shops on both sides. There were many interesting food items. Also much in the way of souvenirs of religious motifs, including the absurd plaques inscribed "Shalom, Y'all." It was difficult for me to concentrate on the spiritual significances for having to avoid the peddlers, keep hands on wallet, keep head down to maintain footing on the snowy cobblestones, and keep up with the group. This walk culminates at the Holy Sepulcher. Opposite the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a stone slab, the Stone of Unction, where, the Body of Jesus was cleansed and prepared for burial. There is a site nearby that is recognized by some Christians as the tomb because it fits the descriptions as we know them. This is known as the Garden Tomb and is in the Jewish Quarter. Bethlehem Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus. I had not realized that it was just 4 miles south of Jerusalem. We got on the road to Hebron and had a view of the plains in Jordan to the left. I could not help but remember from Luke, "And there were in the same fields, shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night." These were those fields, and in this sky were the star and the angel. However, Bethlehem, being in the occupied territory, is strongly Arab inhabited. This is their home and the meaning of their birthplace to Christians is perhaps mostly appreciated by non-Christian Arabs only in terms of the tourism that it brings. Manger square is the site of the Church of the Nativity. I wanted to see something entirely different from what I saw. I wanted to see love and adoration, but I saw hatred and commercialism. There was the Church of the Nativity, familiar from Christmas Eve broadcasts around the world. And in the lower level, a series of shrines from different denominations commemorating the birth site and manger. Watching Christmas Eve services from this Church on TV will not be the same. Tel Aviv Tel Aviv is certainly a modern city with high rises, hotel and shopping districts, museums, theaters, concert halls and tourism. As in many U.S. cities, there is overcrowding, traffic and parking problems, multi-cultural interweaving, and an apparent total lack of planning. The Jews left Jaffa in 1909 and began their city of Tel Aviv. Actually, Jaffa (or Yafo) is a part of Tel Aviv whose official name is Tel Aviv-Yafo. The Dan Panorama Hotel is conveniently located at the seashore between Tel Aviv and Jaffa. I took some late night and morning walks near the hotel. I understand that this is much safer than in many large U.S. cities. One eventful night was spent going to a Yemenite restaurant downtown which was like another world. I tried Yemenite bean soup which seemed to be made from what we would call Great Northern beans, and flavored with chili powder. Very acceptable to anyone with western U.S. tastes. I saw pita bread being made in the window to this restaurant facing the street. I always wondered how there was such a nice clean cut throughout the middle of the round, separating it into two crusts, with no apparent external intervention. The secret I saw before my eyes when the large rounds of dough on the griddle puffed up into big pillow cushion looking affairs. At this point they are swept off of the griddle and quickly collapse into the configuration with which I am accustomed. We had various types of vegetables and yogurt dips for the pita. Also several types of kabobs that were all excellent. A day at the hotel began with the traditional Israeli breakfast, included with the room. This was a large buffet affair that would take a long time to describe completely. For someone who seldom eats breakfast, I made a pretty good effort. The coffee and croissants were excellent. But then there were large platters of fruits, cheeses, fish of many types, and olives and more olives. There were many complex dishes with cream or yogurt bases but embellished with different vegetables or flavorings. They all appeared very similar in the bowls so I had to make a comprehensive study of the entire array one morning. There were none of them that I could describe being short of excellent. However, one of our party was a good old boy from the farm who was about to starve for home cooking after the second day. There was not an opportunity to get an Alabama type breakfast. Some of the outstanding fruits were the persimmons that, unlike the wild ones in the south that can turn your mouth inside out, were very crisp and crunchy, yet sweet. I have seen these on occasion in the States and in Japan. They had a type of grapefruit that was similar to our Texas Ruby Reds, only better. There were magnificent oranges plus exotic fruits like kiwis and kumquats. I only tried the hotel fare at dinner one night. It was fair but expensive, not unlike so many hotels. There were gift shops, hairdresser, bars and lounges, and dramatic little corners where you could get a snack or drink. There was a large and somewhat sophisticated lounge that featured a different pianist every night. On our last night, and with some coaxing from companions, I was allowed to replace the house pianist for the last set. He was an interesting Argentinian who taught me some new tango pieces on the piano. Before he left we entertained each other by playing some impromptu duets that went well. As we settled down for the evening into all sorts of requests, one in the group asked for the hymn entitled "The Old Rugged Cross." I did not know what kind of a reaction this would get in a Tel Aviv hotel but I did it. There was a certain feeling of adventure as I played the familiar hymn to what must have been a rather cosmopolitan audience including many Jews. Maybe they didn't know what I was playing but at any rate I was neither stoned nor booed. Old Jaffa Because we were so close to Jaffa, I was able to go there for dinner one evening and also for a quick tour of the port and archaeological sites shortly before leaving for the airport. This is definitely a must for the return trip. The Bible describes this as the site from which Jonah set sail. In the restored area there is a large excavation where you can see remnants from many different centuries. Egyptian walls and gates from the 13th century B.C. A Jewish city built in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and traces from the days of the Roman occupation. Old Jaffa is somewhat touristy. The Israelis have done a good job of cleaning up this part of the city, recovering it from a period of infestation by drug dealers and other bad elements. However, in other parts of Jaffa, things are not so shiny and new looking. There is a flea market and lots of opportunities to discover antiques. One of the results of the heavy migration of Soviet Jews is the appearance in these markets of many family heirlooms taken by these families as they fled Russia. This includes hard to get items from Russia such as Samovars and Icons. We went to the port, the oldest seaport in the world, one night for dinner. As expected, most of the restaurants in the port feature seafood. We had our pick of several and selected one that was not too crowded but looked interesting. We tried a seafood stew that must have been somewhat like an Israeli Bouillabaisse. This was excellent with plenty of fish and crustaceans from the Mediterranean. For entree, I had to try the infamous St. Peter's fish, indigenous to the Sea of Galilee. This was served whole, unfileted, and deep fried. For a rather large fish, there was very little meat on the bones. It looked nice until you peeled the skin back and came immediately to the bones. Had to have the experience but now I know. The coffee was also worth noting. I am used to people with steadfast idiosyncrasies when it comes to their coffee habits. My Dad would only drink instant, I never touch instant, and it would take paragraphs to describe my sister's ritual. However, in this setting there was an urn of hot water and a cannister of the darkest, most pungent coffee you could imagine. This was Turkish coffee. You spread it out over a cup of hot water and hope that most of the grounds sink to the bottom by the time you just have to have some kind of coffee. Then as you near the bottom there is the challenge of how much of this sludge you dare try before tossing the rest. I resisted at first, became desperate, suffered through early sips, became resigned, and now that I think of it a cup would go pretty well right now. By far the best meal of the trip was an elaborate feast of many courses and impeccable service. Particularly notable was the appetizer of very large shrimp. Now shrimp is not Kosher and I did not see very much cheating going on so there has to be an explanation. Well these are known as Jewish Shrimp and are made in the style advanced by the Japanese where fish is grated and compressed and colored into imitations of crab legs, shrimp or even lobster. This is not viewed in Japan as a cheap imitation but acceptable in its own right. I believe the Israelis look at this the same way. At any rate these looked every bit like very large prawns and were prepared in a nice Italian scampi style. There is no scarcity of olive oil in Israel and recent findings tend to put that into the 'good fat' category. Summary Every Christian should see the Holy Land. Some preparation would alleviate shock and calibrate expectations. The Israelis are a remarkable people, living with unsolvable problems. In spite of this they have devotion, love of life, dedication to their State, and a frank openness about almost any subject. I look forward to going back after much study. I am uncomfortable with the Arab intifada, dedicated to violence in attempting to force the return of their homeland. I am sad, happy and excited to see the unfolding of history in consonance with prophesy. A Trip to Israel... Lessons in a Different Way of Life A Trip to Israel... Lessons in a Different Way of Life by R. Wayne Fritzsche A TRIP TO ISRAEL ... LESSONS IN A DIFFERENT WAY OF LIFE By R. Wayne Fritzsche Bernardsville, New Jersey The first thing you notice when you get to Israel is that the atmosphere, albeit on the surface, is more relaxed than you had imagined. My thoughts were that people would have a very high anxiety/tension level. I didn't see that in the general populace, moreover, I didn't see it in the business community. I work in medical consulting, and venture capital. My clients and companies I invest in are all medically oriented. One of the things that Israelis do well is medicine. You might guess that since there are many Jewish doctors there, and lots of "investors" along the way. However, the traditional stereotype we North Easterners have of the indigenous Jew, is quite different from the reality of an Israeli. We normally think of the Jew in New York, where they are not typically a scientist, but rather entrepreneurs and businessmen. That is not the case in Israel. I'm not certain if it is because of the compulsory military training and service or if they just have a more pragmatic view of life. The Israeli is nothing if he is not the consummate "survivor". He has little time for sophisticated and relatively irrelevant games that we on Wall Street love so dearly. His key interest is getting a product on the market (and defending his homeland). One of the interesting things you will note in the Israeli, is that they almost always talk about their "unit", i.e. in the service. I speak with doctors and accountants, and scientists, and the thing about their service activities crosses all boundaries. It is a unifying force in the country. It is not something the women talk of much, but rather something the men are "in tune" with daily. The assignment I was on took me into the Negev; the desert. I was in Beer Sheva, which is right near the desert. I had to have military clearance for the visit (one of about 10 I would make to Israel), since I was working in the area of high energy physics, namely, medical lasers. The Israelis pioneered this work. They were and are creative scientifically. They developed new "wave guides" for specific delivery systems and different lasers that had important and new medical applications. The ironic thing is that they had no concept on how to market their lasers in the United States. I came to Israel with a very German name. In fact, my sir name was the same as Hans Fritzsche. He was the fellow who would make nightly broadcasts over German radio on the status of the war (the big one that is, World War II ... in the parlance of Archie Bunker) and the Jews. He was tried at Neurenburg and acquitted. He reported to Geobells so he had a high ranking position. Nonetheless, no one said anything to me about it, and they knew my name before they asked me over. I spent time with these lovely people at their homes. I flew into Tel Aviv, and then went to Jerusalem. I stayed at the King David Hotel. I have made other trips to other parts of the country, but this part, Jerusalem, had the most significance to me. I went to the Holy Sepulcher, and walked on the Via Dolorosa. I was not a really strong christian then. I'm sure I would have been moved to tears, today, walking the same course our Lord walked in that Holy City, to His death. I went to the Wailing Wall, and was moved by the size of it, and the reverence people conferred to it. My hosts were spectacular. Several military men, of very high rank, ate with us at each other's houses and at restaurants in the area. They would ask, "How will you (me) bring us money into the country to help sell our lasers?" It was as if they brought me onto their team, even though I was just looking at this as a job. I had been accepted, and well received. They were truly amazing. I met an Arab in Jerusalem and like most underprivileged nations, there are those who look at Americans as wealthy and desirous of learning. He "offered" or better said "inflicted" himself on me. He gave me a personal tour of the city. It was a wonderful walking tour, and he took me to see his uncle, and we met with friends he had in the bazaar. I felt a little like I was in a scene from "Raiders of the Lost Arc." I wanted a brown felt hat!!! The Pandemonium in the Bazaar bartering, arguing, "kevetching", and pushing were the norm. It reminded me of Mexico! Nonetheless, the people seemed friendly. I got to see the mount where Mohammed was to have ascended, and virtually all the things we read about in the Bible. I was in Haifa, when I could hear artillery being fired ... no more of that, thank you very much. As a businessman, I enjoyed doing business with the Israelis. They are hard working and industrious. They are good solid people who are desirous of putting their best into a product, and believe that they are helping others when they do this. They have asked me to take a more active role in some of their projects, and I have done so. I have managed some of their efforts here in the states. You see, they even trust someone with a name like Fritzsche. We can do no less. Wedding in Cana Wedding in Cana by Teresa Giordanengo WEDDING IN CANA By Teresa Giordanengo Canonsburg, Pennsylvania In May of 1983 a tour was arranged by Rev. David Mainse and his wife Norma Jean for 100 Huntley Street. It is the name and address of the Christian TV station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where multi-lingual programs are produced. Rev. David Mainse is the President, and hosts the Christian program depicting 100 percent living in Christ Jesus. The reason for this tour was to see the Holy Land, bring the Bible to life, and as a very special highlight, to attend the wedding of their daughter Ellen to Nizar Shaheen, a Christian Arab. They met and fell in love while attending the Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem. I had entertained thoughts of visiting Israel but I never believed my dreams would come true. My son was a college student and my dad, who was 87 years young, was living with me at that time. I hated to leave my dad for the two weeks, but I could not pass up this chance to visit the Holy Land. Besides, I had to leave since my friends had a Bon Voyage party for me. I had never been on a tour before, but everything was arranged perfectly from flights and hotels to baggage. Also I had opted to have a roommate and was very fortunate to have Shirley Croft from Brechin, Ontario. We enjoyed each other's company and have remained good friends. I left the airport in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and traveled to Toronto, then on to Dorval Airport in Montreal where the tourist agent met and introduced me to a few of the members of our tour group. I was one of only two tourists from the states. Would you believe it, I was already homesick and called home from this airport. Two ladies in our group noticed that I had made a phone call and seemed rather glum. They immediately came over to me and introduced themselves and said that they had called home and knew the feeling. They were from Nova Scotia. They asked me if I would like to have dinner with them later in the evening. Needless to say we were good friends throughout the tour. I boarded a bus with the others and was taken to Mirabel Airport in Montreal to board Israel's El Al Airlines. The love of the Lord permeated this group because we were like one big happy family from the onset of the tour. We met Norma Mainse, the bride's mother, and volunteered to keep an eye on the wedding gown while Norma ate dinner at the airport. Everyone was questioned for security purposes but of particular concern to them was the fact that I had traveled to Montreal to get to Israel. The reason was that I wanted to travel with the group that was going to the wedding in Cana of Galilee. I was asked why I was going to Israel and whether anyone else had packed my bags. They asked if I had received any packages, or if I had left my purse unattended at any time. Then I was told that the reason I was asked all those questions is that it would be terrible if they had to come out to the middle of the ocean to rescue me. I really did not mind the interrogation because I knew it was for my safety as well as the others. It was a non-stop flight and the food and service was excellent. It was snowing in Montreal when we left, but by the time we flew over Rome, Italy, we were told that the temperature on the ground was 99 degrees. There were at least 350 guests on tour plus the bride's family and 100 Huntley Street Staff and TV cameramen. Announcements on the plane were given in Hebrew as well as English. Therefore, I had my first lessons in Hebrew. I was so excited and could hardly wait to get to Israel. I was introduced to my roommate, Shirley, just before landing. After we disembarked at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, I felt like I wanted to hug a tree or kiss the ground. But I hugged Shirley instead. We traveled by Volvo buses to Jerusalem. The licensed guide on our bus #4 was Ya'ir, a super guide. The bus driver was Amnon, who took us around the hairpin curves with the greatest of ease, and could park the bus on a dime. Before we entered the City of Jerusalem, Guide Ya'ir led us in singing the hymn "We're marching to Zion." Then he gave us all a piece of bread from a large loaf and a drink of wine. We were permitted to step off the bus for a few minutes. Shirley and I dipped our fingers in the soil in a flower bed on the wall. It was something we wanted to do, to feel a part of Israel. We wanted to - eat of His Word, drink of His goodness, and rest assured that if anything was to happen, what better place for it to occur than the Holy Land! The accommodations at each of the hotels was excellent. Each day before we reached our hotel we sang the following song in Hebrew: (We Bring You Peace) Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, Hevenu Shalom, Shalom, Shalom Aleichem. We were taught that the Hebrew language does not have the letter "J". Therefore the City of Jerusalem should be spelled Yerushalyim. I often wonder why that spelling was changed. After all, when an Israeli comes to America, we expect him to spell Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, or any other place the way we do. This tour was unique because Rev. Mainse personally planned this entire trip for us. We visited all of the places that most tourists do, but I will tell you of only a few of them. We went to the Mt. of Olives where Jesus will return someday and the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed. I was surprised to see the huge ancient olive trees still alive in the garden. One of the most memorable times was celebrating Holy Communion at the Garden Tomb where Rev. Mainse conducted the service. Each received a chalice of olive wood from which the wine was taken. Another inspiring afternoon was spent at the Jordan River where there is a special site for baptism. Two hundred or more tourists were baptized or reconfirmed their baptism, as I did. A short service was held beforehand and other crowds gathered to watch. Of course I brought some water home from the River Jordan. Every evening there was a seminar or service. One evening we saw the film "Apples of God," a 100 Huntley Street originated film telling of the persecution of the Jews. It was excellent. The producer Jay Rawlings showed the film himself, and his wife Meridel, author of "Fishers and Hunters" was also present to autograph her book. We happened to be in Jerusalem on the anniversary of the independence of Israel, and the crowds were intense. After almost being pushed along the Via Dolorosa, we toured "The Dome of the Rock," a Muslim Shrine on the Temple Mount. Pressing our prayer requests into a crevice in the Wailing Wall, we watched a dedicated old woman in black shoo a man away from the women's side of the wall. It was exciting to pass almost every gate enroute to some other place of Old Jerusalem; the Jaffa Gate, Damascus Gate, the Dung Gate, and the Golden Gate where Jesus passed into the city after his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. This gate was completely sealed in 1530 by the Turks and it is believed that when Christ returns He will open this gate. The Israelis were celebrating the "Feast of Firstfruits" while we were there. We were seated around the pool of the hotel while the children, dressed in colorful outfits with hats, walked on the platform carrying baskets of fruit, vegetables and flowers. The children recited poems in Hebrew and danced. After the program instructors taught volunteers the Israeli dances. We walked through the business district in the old city and were the recipients of many items at a discounted price because we were the early shoppers. The merchants were very accommodating and treated us so well. They were kind and helpful and walked us to the street and asked us to come back again. I had my first taste of Turkish coffee and learned to like it. Shirley and I walked over to the Christian sector of the city to a gift shop near the National Hotel. A friend of mine knew the owner of the shop and wanted me to deliver a message. Only with a brief description given and no name of the place, except for the vicinity, I was amazed to have found the shop so quickly. We bought many beautiful gifts and were grateful for a ride back to the hotel. We introduced the owner to others in our group and they bought gifts as well. One evening I attended an Israeli Folklore consisting of musicians, comedians, and male and female dancers. I purchased a few records because I thoroughly enjoyed their music. After the show we were invited to the platform to take part in the Israeli dances and to take pictures. It was a lot of fun! We ate dinner at a Kibbutz one evening, and had the privilege of touring the complex. Everyone works at some type of job in a Kibbutz, but do not get paid in money for their work. They live rent free and the medical expenses are taken care of with hospitals nearby if needed. A percentage of what is considered their pay is kept in a savings account. If anyone decides to leave someday, funds have been allocated to help them get started. The apartments were very nice and I was told that in lieu of working there, one could pay an equivalent amount in rent and still live at the Kibbutz. I asked if I could put a piano in the apartment. The answer was, "yes," as long as there is room for it. We visited the school and the children were delightful. To show their appreciation of our visit, they picked kumquats and flowers for us. There is no welfare program in Israel. If a family is in need of food, they are welcome to harvest any amount of crops from the government fields. Our guide Ya'ir asked if we had seen Adam and Eve's first suit of clothing. We gave him a very puzzled look. Smiling, he reached for a huge fig leaf. We visited Massada and rode the cable car and then climbed 200 steps to the top. From here I had an impressive view of the Judean wilderness and the Dead Sea. Our guide explained something that seems quite feasible. The Judean Wilderness is lined with hills and caves and the other side of the Dead Sea is lined with mountains. This at one time was one mountain and a rift occurred in the middle which produced the Dead Sea - which supposedly covers what once was Sodom and Gomorrah. The Dead Sea is quite beautiful. It is named as such not only because it has no outlet - for it has nothing living in or around it. When I visit this area again, I want to smear the black mud all over me as many of the tourists did. This is supposed to be very good for the skin and healthful. While visiting Jericho I hugged a couple of children. Then I was admiring the blossoms on a tree when the mother of the two children reached up and snapped a branch off and handed it to me. I pressed it in a book and still have it. We traveled to Mt. Hermon, a beautiful place with crystal clear water, and to the Lebanese border to a spot called "The Good Fence." The ground between the two countries is called "No Man's Land." Soldiers on both sides stood guard even though a peace treaty had been signed. While in Tiberias we boarded three boats and sailed halfway across the Sea of Galilee. I was thinking about the time the disciples drew in the net full of great fish while Jesus prepared their breakfast and asked them to come and dine (John 21:11 and 12). The boats were anchored and tied together while we had a short inspirational service on board. Then we sang "Put your hand in the hand of the Man who stilled the waters." Afterwards we proceeded to Capernaum and ate St. Peter's fish for lunch. We visited the strikingly designed Shrine of the Book where the priceless dead sea scrolls are housed. We went through the Yad VaShem erected in memory of the Jews who were victims of The Holocaust. I felt very depressed after leaving this place. It made me wonder how anyone could be so cruel to another human being. We passed the Knesset, seat of Israel's parliament - the modern wailing wall as a large percent of an Israeli's income tax goes for defense. You see, Israel is such a small country, about the size of New Jersey, U.S.A. They must keep their defense planes in flight constantly. If they were attacked and their planes were on the ground, Israel would have no time to get them off the ground to protect herself. I must tell about the highlight of our tour, the wedding of Ellen and Nizar. Both were students of the Bible who had dedicated their lives to serving the Lord. Their wedding was held in Cana of Galilee. The evening before the wedding, it was customary for the men to carry the father of the bride through the town on their shoulders. Nizar's father was deceased. The mothers of the bride and groom are seated in chairs and carried on the men's shoulders too. There were other traditional customs that I am not well acquainted with. On the wedding day, the people came early and lined the streets and stood on porches and roof tops to view the bride and groom. I never saw so many people crowded together in a little town as this before. I think the entire village and surrounding villages attended this wedding. The wedding took place in the church yard where only the guests on tour and the family and close friends of the bride and groom were seated. The church was not large enough to seat this number of people. The entire wedding was televised via the 100 Huntley Street TV network. The bride's uncle was the soloist and two of the hymns he sang were "How Great Thou Art" and "The Lord's Prayer." It was a gorgeous warm, sunny day with a slight breeze. I remember looking out over the hills, as Glen Rutledge sang, and thought about how his lovely voice and those wonderful words resounded out into the crowded streets and hillside. This was an unforgettable experience. The wedding ceremony was conducted in Arabic. The bride responded by quoting Ruth 1:16 and 17 in Arabic to her groom - which is, "For whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people and thy God my God." After the wedding ceremony, one of the older ladies in the crowd began shouting blessings to the bride and groom. This is customary. Rev. Mainse repeated the blessings assisted by an interpreter. In this culture, both the bride and groom give presents to the guests. The bride gave new testaments with white covers trimmed in gold to the English speaking crowd and to the others she gave new testaments with black covers, written in Arabic. The groom gave all the guests a hand made vase filled with candy coated jordan almonds. The reception was held at the hotel where the entire outdoor pool area was reserved for the reception. What a magnificent view! Brilliant flowers floated on the pool, luscious fruit was arranged in pyramid fashion on the table, and appetizing salads were everywhere. We had shish-ka-bob for dinner made without pork. I never ate anything so tasty. I especially liked the eggplant and pimento salad. The huge wedding cake was iced with what seemed like a mocha icing and was scrumptious. Everything was super, I couldn't have improved on a thing. After dinner, while we drank the Turkish coffee, the bride's mother and uncles entertained us with special music. Lastly, the bride and groom were roasted and toasted while slides of their early years were shown on a screen. Everyone was so joyful. It was a glorious day and I wouldn't have missed this for the world. It made me think of what our reunion in Heaven will be like! I found that the Israelis were friendly and did their best to make us feel at home. I felt very safe there, and had a fabulous time. I want to go back because I can truthfully say that I love Israel and her people with all my heart. Most of us hated to bid our guide Ya'ir goodbye. When we hugged and kissed, as they do in the mideast, we promised, "L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalyim" (Next Year in Jerusalem). We have all heard the old adage that woman is fickle and we all know the song "I left my heart in San Francisco." I am not sure where I left my heart, whether it was in Jerusalem, or Tiberias or Tel Aviv. But one thing I know for sure, I left my heart in Israel ! Getting to Know Israel - The Sea of Galilee Getting to Know Israel - The Sea of Galilee by K. Keith Megilligan GETTING TO KNOW ISRAEL - THE SEA OF GALILEE By K. Keith Megilligan (From ISRAEL MY GLORY magazine) At the southern end of the Huleh Valley and the northern tip of the Jordan Valley lies one of the most amazing geographical features in Israel. It is the Sea of Galilee. But don't be deceived by its name. It is the largest body of fresh water in the Middle East, and certainly in Israel. It is a harp-shaped lake, approximately ten miles long and five to six miles wide. It sits in a bowl-like depression surrounded by the hills of Upper and Lower Galilee to the west and the Trans-Jordan plateau to the east. Its surface is about 600 feet below sea level. Its shape and location are probably due to the fact that it is the mouth of an ancient and long since extinct volcano. This is further established by the fact that most of its shoreline and the surrounding hillsides are composed of basalt, a very hard, black, volcanic rock that erodes to produce very fertile soil. But enough of its statistics - what about its personality? This beautiful lake has been known by various names down through the years. In Hebrew it is known as Yam Kinneret (Sea of Kinneret), probably named after the little city of Kinneret that once stood on the lake's northwestern shore. During the period of the Gospels (New Testament), it was known as the Sea of Genessaret, for a city on its southern shore. It was also known then as the Sea of Galilee, and later as the Sea of Tiberias. The word Kinneret comes from either the Hebrew word "kinar" (meaning fruit) or "kinor" (meaning harp), the latter being the more popular name, probably taken from the lake's harp-like shape. Although the Sea of Galilee is not mentioned in the Old Testament (with the possible exception of Isaiah 9:1), it has numerous references in the New Testament. In fact, a modern-day "Kinneret scholar," Mendel Nun, believes that the Gospels are probably the best source for the history of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Without question, the Gospel writers portrayed everything from fishing and net mending to social life and taxes around the Sea of Galilee. And although only a few fishing villages are mentioned in the Scriptures (i.e., Capernaum, Magdala, and Beit-Saida), archaeology indicates that many more existed that are not mentioned. My first glimpse of the Sea of Galilee came as the early-morning, winter sun kissed the surface in a brilliant, shimmering display. Coming down from Upper Galilee on a north-south course parallel to the sea's western shore. Our elevation and distance were such that I could cover the visible surface with the palm of my hand. It shone like a brilliant sapphire against the dark shadow of the Trans-Jordan plateau. I strained my neck to keep it in view as long as possible while the bus wound its way through the undulating countryside. It was a magnificent sight! That was 15 years ago, but that view of the Sea of Galilee has had a lasting impact. As mentioned before, the Sea of Galilee sits in a geological bowl surrounded by hills and mountains almost all the way around. Its major source of water is the Jordan River flowing into it from the north. Its outlet is at the southern tip, reestablishing the flow of the Jordan River as it continues its winding path south to the Dead Sea. On the western side of the sea is a natural east/west depression that divides the hills of Upper and Lower Galilee. On the eastern side is the western edge of the Golan Heights, spilling softly into the Sea of Galilee. The valleys and depression that surround and empty into the Sea create some breathtaking scenes, but they are also the topographical cause of its stormy weather. The New Testament tells of several incidents when Jesus and His disciples were caught up in storms on the sea. There are two primary reasons why these storms occur. First, since the Sea of Galilee sits in a bowl-like configuration, it is dramatically affected by the sudden changes in wind and atmospheric conditions. Because the surface of the lake is below sea level the water and air at its surface are warm year-round. Further, when this warm, humid air is impacted by the cooler dry air that comes rushing down the valleys from either side (especially from Trans-Jordan), it produces virtually instant turmoil on the sea's surface. Second, Israel experiences two basic weather patterns during the year: hot and dry (summer) and cool and wet (winter). These weather patterns are basically stable; that is, not much in the nature of storms accompanies them. However, these stable weather patterns are linked by some very unstable transitional weather patterns (fall and spring) that can produce significant storms, which can be particularly violent on and around the Sea of Galilee. In fact, in a matter of 30 minutes, a calm sea can give way to wind-driven waves six to ten feet high! Therefore, the next time you read about the disciples and our Lord venturing out upon the stormy waters of Galilee, you will realize at least two things. First, the storm probably took place during either the fall or spring season. Second, if the storm was bad enough to frighten those seasoned fishermen, who were accustomed to such weather patterns, it must have been quite a storm! Yet, it was against the background of this amazing geographical setting that Jesus taught His disciples some of the greatest lessons about faith and His creative sovereignty (Mt. 14:22-33; Mk. 6:45-52; Lk. 8:22-25). K. Keith Megilligan serves on the faculty of the Institute of Biblical Studies in Deptford, New Jersey, which is affiliated with the FRIENDS OF ISRAEL GOSPEL MINISTRY Inc. in Deptford, New Jersey. This is Jerusalem This is Jerusalem by Lance Lambert THIS IS JERUSALEM By Lance Lambert. (An excerpt from the book THE UNIQUENESS OF ISRAEL) Some cities have an outward beauty, plastic and cosmetic. It is real but superficial and consists of those tangible things which make an immediate impact upon our senses. Jerusalem's beauty is not of that order. It is true that she has her own physical beauty. That kind of beauty can be seen, for instance, in her setting; located amongst mountains, she presents a breathtaking view. It can be seen at sunset when the color of her stone glows with ethereal light, or when the first rays of the rising sun transform her stones into the proverbial 'Golden City'. It can also be seen in her ancient buildings, lanes and souks which breathe the atmosphere of an historic past. Yet Jerusalem's essential beauty does not consist of these things. There are other cities which far exceed Jerusalem in that kind of beauty, cities which are more elegant and sophisticated, more commercially attractive and wealth-inducing, more grand in their planning concepts and design. Paris with its elegance and sophistication, Rome with its history and ingrained atmosphere of religion, New York with its incredible air of excitement and business, cannot be compared with Jerusalem. London may be a world center of finance and power, with a sense of enduring solidity, but it cannot be compared with Jerusalem. Jerusalem is unique amongst the cities of the world, for her beauty is the beauty of a spiritual ideal, a thought out of the mind of God, crystallized in stone and history. Jerusalem today is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, built on four thousand years of history. At some places within her walls the bed-rock lies ninety feet below the present surface, and today's buildings and lanes rest on the destruction of the past. Layer upon layer of history lie beneath her, reaching back into the mists of antiquity. On every level one finds the evidence of her long story - Jebusite, Jewish, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Turkish. Even above the surface, it is there for those who have eyes to see - great Herodian blocks of stone, Byzantine arches, Hellenic pillars, Arab motifs, Crusader vaults, Jebusite stones, Turkish walls. Jerusalem is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 14:18, where she is called 'Salem', which means 'Peace': "Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High." (RV) This would have been about the 19th century B.C. She is also mentioned in Egyptian execration texts of the 19th-18th century B.C. From the way she is mentioned in certain Scriptures, such as Joshua 15:63 or Judges 1:21, we know that in the 14th century B.C. she was a Jebusite city. We find confirmation for this in the Tel el Amarna letters of that period. She was still a Jebusite city when King David captured her in the 10th century B.C. (2 Samuel 5:6-9). David made her the capital of a united Israel, and from that day she became the spiritual center of the children of Israel and of the Jewish people. It was David who became the inspiration under God for the building of the Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, though it was Solomon, his son, who translated the vision into practical reality and built it there. From that time Jerusalem was not only the political capital but the focal point of a spiritual and eternal reality. Jerusalem has known more devastation than most other cities, both from wars and from earthquakes. In the 2,565 years between 587 B.C. and A.D. 1978 she was conquered more than twenty times. Yet today Jerusalem still stands more or less where she has ever stood. Her center has moved a little northwards, but her present boundaries include the entire area of the ancient city at every phase of her history. The city of Jerusalem is unique because of the way she was selected to be the capital of the nation. Most capital cities of the world have become capitals because of their situation. They are on important trade routes or mayor cross roads, possess large natural harbors, or are beside navigable rivers. They have been chosen because they are commercially viable and attractive centers, naturally drawing trade to themselves and providing a good venue for business. Jerusalem never had any of these natural advantages. She was not situated on any mayor crossroads, or indeed on any important trade-routes . The major highways and trade routes of antiquity ran either to her east or to her west. To her east, the King's Highway linked Arabia with Damascus; to her west, the Way of the Sea connected Egypt with Damascus, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Jerusalem had no natural harbor; she was situated neither on the coast, nor on any river, navigable or otherwise. Indeed Jerusalem had no major water supply other than the Gihon Spring, and that was originally outside the city walls. It was King Hezekiah who recognized the serious threat which this represented to Jerusalem's security and survival, and took action which has amazed engineers ever since. He had a tunnel 1,777 feet long hewn out of the solid rock which brought the waters of Gihon within the city, to the Pool of Siloam (2 Kings 20:20). This matter of its water supply must surely make Jerusalem unique. One may well ask whether there has ever been another capital city with so precarious a water supply as Jerusalem had! Jerusalem became the capital of the nation because God chose her. In Deuteronomy 12:5, 13-14, God had said: "But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come ... Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou sees: but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee." (RV) This place which the Lord chose was Jerusalem. As the Psalmist says: The Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my resting place forever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it. (Psalm 132:13-14, RV.) Jerusalem is therefore unique among the cities of the world. She was not chosen for natural advantages, for she had none; she was chosen for spiritual reasons alone. The divine choice of Jerusalem not only makes her a unique city, but has also made her the focal point of enduring and violent conflict. For she was not chosen by God merely to be the physical capital of any earthly nation, but to embody and represent a spiritual ideal. She has not, therefore, been merely the bone of contention between nation, the flashpoint of clashing national and religious interests. Behind all the fighting, devastation and sorrow lie spiritual forces bent on destroying even the earthly symbol of God's eternal purpose and calling. The history of Jerusalem has been the history of battles. Her story is the story of triumph and achievement, of suffering and sorrow. It is a chronicle of great saintliness and of deep sinfulness; of enduring loyalty and of dark treachery; of triumphant faith and devastating defeat. Her history is aptly summed up in an ancient Jewish saying: "Ten measures of suffering were sent by God upon the world, and nine of them fell upon Jerusalem." The story of Jerusalem is the evidence that the narrow way of God is fraught with suffering and tribulation. She is a microcosm of every believer's life, an illustration of the truth that we enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation; she is a cameo in which we see depicted the great affliction and battle involved in the building up of that spiritual Zion which is the church. The list of the nations and peoples who have fought for Jerusalem is almost endless: Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Tartars, Mamelukes, Turks, Britons, Jordanians. Nor is the story finished. The word of God predicts that there will be many more battles over Jerusalem. In Zechariah 12:2-3 the Lord says: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall I be I the siege of Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it;" (RV) And in verse 9 he says: "It shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem;" (RV) And again in Zechariah 14:2 "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle." (RV) Zechariah's words are relevant to this generation: 'A cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about', that is, a drugged cup impairing normal faculties; and 'a burdensome stone for all the peoples', that is, a heavy stone rupturing those who lift it. It I precisely what she has become and is becoming. Everyone who meddles and interferers with Jerusalem's destiny will be 'sore wounded'. It does not matter whether it is the great superpowers, the United Nations, or any particular nation, all will come to grief if they 'burden themselves' with Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:6 is also remarkable. In the prediction of future battles over Jerusalem, the Lord says: " ... and Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in her own place, even in Jerusalem." (RV) In Monsignor Knox's translation, it reads: "Jerusalem shall stand, when all is over, where Jerusalem stood." It is a fact that, in spite of all the conflict and its many destructions, Jerusalem stands today where Jerusalem has ever stood through the years. Nineveh and Ur and Babylon have come and gone, Thebes and Raamses have come and gone, but Jerusalem remains. One day Washington will fall, as will Moscow, Peking and London. All the great cities of the world will pass away, except Jerusalem. This Jerusalem is age abiding, if not eternal. Even in the last great battle, we are told that when the city is taken, and half her population taken into captivity, "... then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east." (Zechariah 14:3 4, RV.) If nothing else makes Jerusalem unique, this does. She will be the first city of the world to receive the Messiah, for God has stated that his blessed and pierced feet will stand again within her walls. The Lord Jesus loved Jerusalem deeply. It was not only the material city, but what she represented and embodied of his Father's purpose and design. He referred to her as 'Jerusalem ... the city of the great King' (Matthew 5:35). She was his city, the earthly city as well as the heavenly Jerusalem. A week before his death, as he came over the brow of the Mount of Olives from Bethany and saw the whole city lying before him, he wept over her: "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they'll not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:42-44. NASB.) We hear the heartbreak in his voice when, a few days later, after one of the most solemn denunciations he had ever uttered, he said: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling." (Matthew 23:37, NASB.) This was the city in which Jesus was crucified and buried; the city in which he arose from the dead and from which he ascended to his Father, there to reign forever. And it is to this city that he will return with glory and great power. Then the prophecy of Isaiah will be fulfilled: "And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall ill unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge between the nations, and shall reprove many peoples: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:2-4, RV.) Then, and only then, will the long travail of Jerusalem be over, and God's purpose concerning her be fulfilled. There is no other city in the world to be compared with Jerusalem. She began as the choice of God; she has been preserved through his grace; and she will end in his glory. Jerusalem is unique. Operation Solomon Operation Solomon by Will Varner OPERATION SOLOMON By Will Varner (From ISRAEL MY GLORY magazine) Many questions have been asked recently about the Jewish people in Ethiopia and their immigration to Israel. These Ethiopian Jews are sometimes referred to as the Falashas. Who are they? How did they become Jewish? Are they the lost tribes? In 1984 and 1985, there was a massive airlift of Ethiopian Jews to the land of Israel. Over a period of a few months, approximately 8,500 were taken to Israel in Operation Moses. But Operation Moses ceased when information about it was leaked to the press. The Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel has been very interesting. I've met and talked with some of them, and they are loyal to the State of Israel and very religious. In May 1991 another operation was undertaken- Operation Solomon. It was, in some ways, even more amazing than Operation Moses. Within a time span of 24 hours, there was a massive airlift of 14,400 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Many El Al jumbo jets were used. A world record was set when one 747 ferried over a thousand Ethiopian Jews to Israel. They have joined their relatives and friends, and now the Ethiopian community in Israel numbers about 35,000. There are still almost 2,000 Ethiopian Jews behind rebel lines in Ethiopia, but there is hope that someday they will be able to join their brothers in Israel. Who are these people? Some have suggested that they may be one of the so-called "lost tribes." You will remember that the ten northern tribes of Israel were taken into captivity in 622 B.C. As the rabbis have speculated about who these Ethiopian Jews are, some have said that they are the lost tribe of Dan. There is very little to substantiate this view. As a matter of fact, no historical evidence exists for this idea at all. The northern tribes of Israel were deported into Assyria (northern Iraq). Ethiopia is more than a thousand miles south of Israel! On the other hand, the Ethiopian Jews' belief about themselves, about their own community, is very fascinating, because they connect themselves to a biblical event. First Kings 10 tells of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. She came, saw the wonders of his kingdom, and declared, "the half was not told me" (1 Ki. 10:7). She gave Solomon gold and then returned to her own land. The land of Sheba is either in Ethiopia or across the Red Sea in the southern part of Arabia, but scholars agree that the Queen of Sheba ruled over the area known today as Ethiopia. So the Ethiopian Jews' belief about their own origin is that when the Queen of Sheba returned, she took back Jewish teachers and scribes who taught the knowledge of the one true God to the Ethiopians, and many of them became followers of or proselytes to the God of Israel. This tradition seems to be a more likely explanation for the origin of the Ethiopian Jews-that they are the children of proselytes. They are devoted to the God of Israel, very faithful and very religious. We know that their origin predates the New Testament for several reasons. First, the Jewish practices of the Ethiopian Jews are not affected by any of the rabbinic practices that developed in New Testament times and beyond. They have no knowledge of some of the rabbinic laws that were enacted after the end of the Old Testament period. They know only Old Testament Judaism. Therefore, their origins can be dated before the coming of Christ. A second reason why we know that their origins are ancient is a fact that also connects them to the New Testament. In Acts 8 we read the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. The eunuch was an official in the queen's palace in Ethiopia, and he had been up to Jerusalem to worship. Why had he been up to Jerusalem to worship? Because he was Jewish. He had gone up to one of the pilgrim festivals in Jerusalem, and, on his way back, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. He was probably thinking about some of the things he had seen and heard in Jerusalem, and the Scripture indicates that Philip came, preached the gospel to him, and led him to the Messiah. So here is an Ethiopian Jew in the pages of the New Testament. The Ethiopian Jews are sometimes referred to as Falashas, but that name probably should not be applied to them. It is a derisive term by which other Ethiopians referred to them in the Middle Ages. It means outcast or stranger. They call themselves the Beta Israel (house of Israel). It is better, therefore, not to refer to them as Falashas, which is a name of derision, but simply as Ethiopian Jews. They are truly a fascinating group. Although more primitive than modern Jews because of having lived in the mountains and undergone persecution for a long time, they are very religious and deeply committed to the God of Israel. They are also faithful and loyal Israelis and are fitting into Israeli society very well. In fact, many of them serve in the Israeli military. Some of the rabbis have a problem with their background and want them to go through a special ritual cleansing ceremony of immersion because of the uncleanness they think is attached to them. Of course, the Ethiopians resent this practice, particularly when they have been much more loyal to the teachings of the Word of God than most Israelis. But everyone in Israel accepts their Jewishness and welcomes them home. Can you imagine the tactical challenge of incorporating 14,400 people into a country in the space of 24 hours? But Israel is committed to the "ingathering of the exiles" and has spared no expense to bring them home. As William Safire has remarked, "Thousands of black people were brought to a country not in chains but in dignity, not as slaves but as citizens." The Bible speaks about Ethiopia. One such passage is a reference to a return of Jews from Ethiopia and may very well refer to the Beta Israel- Ethiopian Jewry: "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my Suppliant, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, in which thou has transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee those who rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain" (Zeph. 3:10-11). Only time will tell if the remaining 2,000 Jews still in Ethiopia will be able to return to their ancient homeland. But we can thrill at their preservation through the years, at their connection to both the Old and New Testaments, and at the heroic way in which Israel has responded to the need of Jews all over the world. Keep in mind that people are Jews, in the modern Jewish sense of the term, not because of racial identification with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but because they belong to a people. Many, many years ago these Ethiopians joined the people of Israel, and they worship the same God as the Jewish people. Although they are sons of converts (proselytes), they are fully accepted as Jews, in every sense of the term, in the land of Israel. Will Varner is the Academic Dean of the Institute of Biblical Studies which is affiliated with the FRIENDS OF ISRAEL GOSPEL MINISTRY Inc. in Deptford, New Jersey. Biblical Department New In Christ New In Christ - The God of This World "New in Christ" is a regular MORNING STAR column written primarily for people who wish to learn more about the basic teachings of Biblical Christianity. The editorial staff at MORNING STAR encourages all readers to freely use this information to help new Christians grow in their walk with the Lord. In this issue we conclude our article, begun in the previous issue, on living a Christian lifestyle. THE GOD OF THIS WORLD - PART 1 Don't let the title of the article fool you. The god of this world is not God the Father, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit. Sorry, no points for any of those answers. It's one of the many interesting names found in the Bible for the Devil himself. (2nd Corinthians 4:4) He's also called the "prince of this world." (John 12:31) It's a sad truth that although the majority of people in this country believe that a god exists, the idea of there being a real "devil" is often scoffed at, even by professed Christians. This disbelief, as with all errors in spiritual matters, comes from people being ignorant of God's word. The devil, whose most common name is Satan, (meaning "adversary"), is a real person, like God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Note that the term "person", does not always mean flesh and blood. There are different types of bodies in the heavens and on earth. (1st Corinthians 15:39,40) The devil is mentioned throughout the Bible in detail from the first book, Genesis, to the last, Revelation. There's no doubt that God says he exists. He is the greatest enemy of God and all Christians. His goal for people is simple: Satan hates all of God's creations, especially men and women. As a result he wants to lead as many people as possible from the Lord. A study of his origin requires a trip through several Old Testament books. This would require too much space to go into here. Therefore, to summarize, the Bible says that originally he was created a good angel with a free will. For some reason, apparently pride, he decided to rebel against God. He led many other evil angels against God. He was defeated and cast out of heaven. However, he was not cast into hell. Many people incorrectly think the devil is safely locked up in hell right now, just waiting around for some of us to be sent to him. Satan and his angels, also called demons, have free access to the earth and its surrounding atmosphere. For this reason another one of his names is "the prince of the power of the air." (Ephesians 2:2) Satan is still allowed access to heaven to converse with God. (Job 1:6,7) He spends his time visiting God to accuse Christians of wrong doing. That's why he's also known as "the accuser of the brethren." (Revelation 12:10) The good news for us is there are restrictions to his abilities. He is not all powerful. He can only do what God allows him to do. He can only be in one place at a given time. (Watch out for his demons however.) He can do nothing to change God's future program as described in His Word, the Bible. It's crucial that all Christians are aware of how powerful Satan is. They need to understand his tactics are against both believers and non-believers. Remember that Satan's desire is to prevent people from being saved. It is Satan that blinds people to the truth of the Gospel, encouraging them to reject it. (2nd Corinthians 4:3,4) Because non-believers don't understand the Gospel, they can't comprehend that many of their seemingly harmless actions are in fact doing Satan's will by opposing God's plan for them. Satan has millions of people in his "back pocket" and they haven't a clue about it. When Christians have to deal with being persecuted or ridiculed by a person or organization for what they believe, they're really not struggling against human beings. The battle is against the powers of Satan whose spirit causes people to do his will. (Ephesians 2:2, 6:12) That's why Christians aren't to hate any person, only the wrong they do. An awful and important truth provided by the Lord is there is nothing that a non-Christian can do to stop Satan from controlling his life. Except of course, becoming born again. Satan can toy with anyone who isn't born again, at his will. (2nd Timothy 2:25,26) He has no control over Spirit-filled Christians lives. Satan can however, make circumstances difficult for believers by causing them problems. Even the apostles, with their tremendous faith, had their travels to spread the Gospel hindered by Satan. (1st Thessalonians 2:18) Why are people misled by Satan and his followers? Why can't they recognize him and the evil he represents? This has to do with the clever tactics he uses to trick both believers and nonbelievers. The real Satan isn't a silly looking devil with a pitchfork and horns who scares people, as he is portrayed in the movies and on television. The Bible tells us that he was created God's most beautiful angel. His greatest tactic, aside from getting people to deny his existence, is imitation. The people who do his will may appear good and kind, even religious. They are often intellectually appealing. God says the devil's followers can appear as "angels of light" and "ministers of righteousness." They can even pretend to be apostles of Christ, to deceive people. (2nd Corinthians 11:14,15) It's easy for Satan to fool those who don't have the Spirit of Christ in them. He can mislead those who don't know their Bible well. This last point is of importance because Satan knows how to quote scripture and misuse it. It's easy to see how his earthly ministers can do the same. An amazing example of his deceitfulness is illustrated when he tried to tempt Jesus. Satan took Old Testament verses out of context and perverting their meaning. (Matthew 4:5,6) His power to tempt and deceive will continue to grow. It will peak in the last days before Christ returns to the Earth to set up His eternal kingdom. Besides influencing people to do his will, Satan himself has enormous supernatural power. These powers are limited by God. He is even able to cause physical ailments in people. Here are three examples of handicaps he caused people during the days of Jesus on this planet. (Jesus cured all three) He caused a man to be a mute. (Matthew 9:32,33 & Luke 11:14) He caused severe mental illness in a boy. (Matthew 17:14-18) He caused a woman to be badly crippled for 18 years. (Luke 13:16) There are other demonstrations of his immense power in the New Testament. He brought Christ up to a high mountain and presented the Lord with a view of his kingdoms. (Matthew 4:8,9) Since, he is the god of this world these kingdoms were his to give. But, if Christ had accepted the world this way, we would have not have had His sacrifice for our sin. This was allowed by God, as are all of his activities, so Jesus could demonstrate His sinless perfection. And, by doing so He serves as an example for us. Satan gave a man the power to perform small miracles through sorcery so the local people would think this man was a god. (Acts 8:9-11) He gave a young girl the ability to give accurate fortunes thereby making money for her masters. (Acts 16:16) (This clarifies the apparent power of some psychics and astrologers of today.) A couple of interesting verses show that Satan and his demons know the prophecies of the Bible well. They are aware of what God's plan holds for them in the future. Next month, in part 2 of this article, we will discuss what believers have been given by the God of the Universe, to combat the attacks we face from the god of this world. Bible Study Bible Study The Bible Study column examines specific sections of Scripture. In this month's Bible Study column, we depart from our usual format to bring you this special article on what the Bible has to say about ownership of the land of Israel. WHO OWNS THE LAND? (Should It Be Open for Negotiation?) By Derek Prince Christian Friends of Israel There has been a tremendous amount of misunderstanding amongst sincere Christians concerning God's dealing with Israel. I don't believe that this misunderstanding is entirely natural. I think there is a spiritual force behind it. Satan is very busy to keep God's people in ignorance of what His purpose for Israel is because we have a part to play in that purpose. Consequently Satan resists our coming into an understanding and thus becoming qualified to play our part in what God is doing. I want to deal with two common purposes that are often raised in connection with God's purposes for Israel. The first one is - To whom does the land belong? You will hear a lot of sincere Christians suggest that there is injustice involved in Israel being restored to the land. Certainly, I would have to acknowledge that there has been a considerable measure of suffering on the parts of many different people. I think I can appreciate that, because my first wife and I and our adoptive daughters were living in Jerusalem during the period when the State of Israel came into being. Twice in a few months, with the whole of our family, we had to leave our house in the middle of the night and flee, taking nothing more with us than what we could carry in our hands, because our lives were being threatened. The first time, the Arab Legion which was the official armed force of Jordan and theoretically one of the security forces in Jerusalem at that time, had a plan to attack our home and probably slaughter our Jewish girls about midnight. We walked out at 9:OO pm and that was the last we saw of that home. So there has been suffering involved in the re-establishment of Israel, this I would freely acknowledge, but that God is capable of injustice, I will not acknowledge. God is far more just than we are. The real issue, I believe, is the sovereignty of God. Does God have a right to allot certain areas of the earth's surface to certain groups of people? For the answer I do not want to offer you some theory of my own. I want to look at Scripture. Let's see what God has to say about the ownership of the land. First, let's see what Scripture says about the whole earth: "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1) God says a good many times that Israel is His land. He calls it specifically "My Land". Above all other pieces of territory in the earth God has laid a special claim, for His sovereign purposes, to that little strip of territory which is Israel. In Ezekiel He warns the northern invader: "In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against My land so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy through you before their eyes." (Ezekiel 38:16) Again in Joel God declares: "I will gather all nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat (which means 'the Lord judges'); then I will enter into judgement against them concerning My inheritance, My people Israel, for they scattered My people among the nations and divided up My land." (Joel 3:2). God has not forgotten that the land o Israel has been partitioned by Gentile rulers and kingdoms. God uses the word "My" in two connections "My people Israel" and "My land". In each case He, in a particular way, identifies Himself with them. Having seen that it is God's land we need to acknowledge that God has clearly and irrevocably given that land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants forever. In Genesis He says to Abraham: "I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:7-8) God promises to give the whole land to Abraham and his descendants for an everlasting possession. This is established by a covenant of God and God declares in Psalm 89:34 His covenant He will never break. Later on, He says to Isaac: "Stay in this land (the land of Israel) for a while and I will be with you and bless you for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give them all these lands through your offspring all nations on earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 26:3-4) Later on, God extends the same promise to Jacob: "The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you and I will give this land to your descendants after you." (Genesis 35:12) Notice that the promise runs through a certain, specific line from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and on to their descendants. In Psalm 105 the psalmist uses the following terms to describe the extent of God's commitment to this purpose: covenant, word, command, oath, decree and everlasting covenant. There is no language used in the Bible that could give stronger emphasis to God's commitment. "He is the Lord our God His judgements are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, the Word He commanded to a thousand generations. The covenant He made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac, He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree to Israel as an everlasting covenant. To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit." (Psalm 105:7-11) If we believe the Bible to be the Word of God there can remain no doubt as to God's purpose for the land. Furthermore, nothing has changed in God's purpose from the time that it was spoken until this time of restoration which was predicted by Jeremiah: "Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will bring My people, Israel and Judah, back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess, says the Lord." (Jeremiah 30:2-3) I simply cannot understand how any question could exist as to the meaning of those words. There is only one place on earth that could answer to that description, "the land gave to their forefathers to possess". It is the land which today is again called "Israel". God alone has the right to determine to whom the land belongs and His determination remains unchanged by all the fluctuating events of history. This is clearly established by the words of Ezekiel: "Son of Man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land they defiled it by their conduct and their actions - I dispersed them among the nations and they were scattered through the countries. For I will take you out of the nations and I will gather you from all the countries and I will bring you back into your own land." (Ezekiel 36:16,24) It was their own land when they defiled it and when God brings them back He says it is into their own land. The Divinely appointed ownership of the land has not changed in all centuries. Exactly the same language is used in Amos: "I will bring back my exiled people Israel. They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine, they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them". (Amos 9:14-15) God goes out of His way to exclude any possibility of doubt as to whom He considers to be the Scriptural owners of the land. This decision as to the ultimate ownership of the land goes back to the origins of humanity. "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided all mankind, He set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel." (Deuteronomy 32:8) When God allotted to all nations the areas where they were to live, the countries they were to inhabit, He based their boundaries on the number of the children of Israel and the location which He had appointed for them. In other words, the location of all other nations in a certain sense depends on and is related to the location of Israel. In Acts 17, Paul explains this to the people of Athens: "From one man, He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live." (Acts 17:26) God has left nothing in that area to human decision. He has determined where every nation should live in accord with the location He had appointed for Israel. In other words, all other nations, in a certain sense, find their location with reference to Israel. Of course, that doesn't always suit the other nations. When Israel is not in her home, all other nations are somewhat out of place. It is for the ultimate good of all nations that Israel should be in her place. God has so arranged things that no other nation can truly find its full destiny until Israel finds her destiny. This is why it is important for you and me who are not Israelites that Israel should obtain their inheritance. Ultimately, the inheritance of all other nations will be determined by Israel being in her right place. This is one reason why we should all pray for the peace of Jerusalem, because not until Jerusalem enjoys peace will the rest of the earth ever know peace. We owe our entire spiritual inheritance to one small nation: Israel. This is an indisputable fact. If there had been no Israel there would have been no patriarchs, no prophets, no apostles, no Bible and most of all, no Saviour. How much spiritual inheritance would any of the rest of the nations have without them? Exactly nothing! We are all debtors to the Jewish people. God says that there are ways we will have to pay the debt back. My personal conviction is that God will never withdraw the Church from the earth until it has at least recognized its debt to the Jewish people and taken some token steps to repay her. Some Christians assert that the Church has taken over the identity of Israel and therefore that God's promises to Israel now apply to the Church, and not to Israel. But this theory does not agree with the way the New Testament consistently uses the name "Israel". The word "Israel" or "Israelites" occurs about 75 times in the New Testament. In at least 70 of these occurrences the name Israel is used in precisely the same way as it was in the Old Testament. This includes nine distinct quotations of Old Testament Scriptures. In every one of these New Testament quotations, the meaning of the name Israel is exactly the same as it was in the Old Testament. In perhaps four instances in the New Testament, the apostle Paul uses "Israel" in a special, restricted sense to denote only those Israelites who have continued in the faith of their forefather Abraham and for this reason have acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah (see Romans 9:6-8), but never once in the New Testament is Israel applied to believers who are not of Israelite descent. It is never used as a synonym for the Church as a whole. In Romans 11:25-26 Paul sums up his analysis of the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles in one comprehensive statement: "Hardening in part has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved". This is the divinely appointed climax to which all believers, Jewish and Gentile alike, should be praying and working together. ------------------------- Footnote from Christian Friends of Israel: For the nations to debate in negotiations over a certain piece of land at the center of the world, allotted to Israel by the Almighty Himself, is dangerously wrong. Open negotiations could lead to a compromise of what God has ordained to be Israel's from His Word. The enemies of Israel, influenced by the powers of darkness, seek to disclaim God's Word of authority. God is the only authority in the case of who owns the land of Israel. We need to stay on God's side and we will be on the right side. If it is stated in His Word, we must stand on it as it is also our authority for what we believe. Please feel free to make copies of this message by Derek Prince, reproduced by CFI for the Body of Christ, so that more people will be scripturally knowledgeable and not ignorant of God's Word in regard to the world's international question of "Who owns the land?". Christian Friends of Israel, PO Box 1813, Jerusalem, 91015 Israel. Tel: 972-2-894172/187. Fax: 972-2-894955. For more information on the ministry of Derek Prince, write to: Derek Prince Ministries Int. PO Box 300 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33302 U.S.A. Special Studies Special Studies WILL THE TEN LOST TRIBES EVER BE FOUND? By Will Varner From the book JACOB'S DOZEN In December, 1984, astounding news leaked to the world press. For over a year, the Israeli government had been secretly flying over ten thousand Ethiopian Jews out of their refugee camps in the Sudan to their new homes in the modern state of Israel. The Beta Israel as they call themselves (Falashas in the Ethiopian language), claim that their Judaic faith originated after the Queen of Sheba returned from her famous visit to King Solomon, bringing with her the knowledge of the one true God. Rabbis in Israel however, had another explanation these Ethiopian Jews were descendants of the tribe of Dan, one of the mysterious lost tribes of Israel. In a recent edition of a Jewish newspaper, an article appeared describing the Jewish customs of the Pashtuan Islamic tribe in Afghanistan. They circumcise their sons on the eighth day, wear four-cornered garments perform levirate marriages and don traditional sidelocks and beards. These customs have convinced some researchers that the Pashtu tribe is a remnant of the ten lost tribes of Israel In a far different vein, a prominent American radio and TV "evangelist" proclaimed for years that the ten lost tribes were not lost but had reappeared as the British and American peoples, whom, he claimed, were the inheritors of the promises to ancient Israel! These various ideas appearing in the twentieth century have again raised some important questions in the minds of many: What did happen to the ten tribes? Have some of them survived until today? Can we identify these tribes with any of the many ethnic groups living on planet earth today? This chapter will attempt to answer these and other questions about the lost tribes by sifting through the myths and ideas of men to ascertain the scriptural and historical truth about the so-called lost tribes. The Meaning Of The Phrase Ten Lost Tribes In 930 B.C., soon after the death of Solomon, the united kingdom of Israel was ruptured into two separate kingdoms, generally referred to in Scripture as the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both of these kingdoms failed in their stand against idolatry, were eventually conquered by foreign powers and ceased to be independent kingdoms. The northern kingdom, consisting of ten tribal allotments, succumbed to the Assyrians around 721 B.C. "For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them, Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants, the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day" (2 Ki. 17:22-23). Their southern brethren, the kingdom of Judah, consisting primarily of the tribal allotments of Judah and Benjamin, were conquered by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Some of these exiles returned under Zerubabbel and reestablished their existence in 536 B.C. Since, however, there never was a formal return of the northern tribes to reestablish their kingdom, they have been popularly referred to as the ten lost tribes. Ideas About The Identity Of The Ten Lost Tribes The television series "In Search of ..." is an indication of how fascinated people are about the unanswered questions surrounding the mysterious, the unknown and the unexplained. The subsequent history of the remnants of the northern kingdom has fueled the imagination of many travelers, writers, romanticists and cultists. There are three basic ideas that have emerged about their identity. First, one traditional Jewish explanation is that the ten tribes are forever lost, assimilated among their Assyrian captors, and never again will be found. The great second century rabbi Akiba expressed this opinion strongly: "The ten tribes shall not return again, they have completely disappeared" (Mishna Sanhedrin 10:3). This, however, seems to be a minority opinion among the rabbis in the Talmud. Second, another Jewish tradition is that the tribes continued to exist beyond the mysterious river Sambatyon whose rapidly flowing waters prevented their crossing it. The Jewish historian Josephus stated at the end of the first century, "The ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated in numbers" (Antiquities 11:133). Throughout the Middle Ages, various pseudo-messiahs, such as David Reubeni, appeared in Europe and claimed to be from a Jewish kingdom composed of the ten lost tribes. Legends circulated that fired the hope of their soon discovery, but no tangible evidence of their existence was ever produced. It was this tradition that motivated Israel's rabbis to declare that the Jews of Ethiopia belong to the lost tribe of Dan. Third, theories abound which identify various ethnic groups today as being the descendants of the ten lost tribes. The Encyclopedia Judaica states, "There is hardly a people, from the Japanese to the British, and from the Red Indians to the Afghans, who have not been suggested, and hardly a place, among them Africa, India, China, Persia, Kurdistan, Caucasia, the United States, and Great Britain" (Vol. 15, p. 1006). The theory attempting to explain the subsequent history of the ten lost tribes that has gained the greatest following is the view known as British-Israelism. First propounded in nineteenth-century England, the basic premise of British-Israelism is that the ten tribes captured by the Assyrians are, in reality, the Saxae, or Scythians, who surged westward through Northern Europe and eventually became the ancestors of the Saxons who invaded England. The theory maintains that the Anglo-Saxons are thus the Israel of the Bible. Therefore, according to this view, the present-day Jews are from the tribe of Judah, are under a divine curse, and are not to be identified with Israel at all. Furthermore, the Anglo-saxon peoples, including the British (i.e., Ephraim) and Americans (i.e., Manasseh) are the inheritors of the covenants and promises of the Old Testament. In addition to some misunderstood scriptural arguments based on the birthright of Joseph (Gen. 49:26) and the promises to his sons Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:20), British-Israelism maintains that the lost tribes left landmarks on their trek across Europe. Thus, the Dan and Danube Rivers, as well as the city of Danzig and country of Denmark are clear indications to them of the tribe of Dan! The term "Saxons" is supposedly a contraction of "Isaac's Sons," while the term "British" is actually derived from two Hebrew words for "covenant" and "man"! These linguistic arguments have been rejected by every reputable Hebrew scholar as absolutely groundless. The original proponents of British-Israelism were evangelical and orthodox in the rest of their theology, and some still exist today, not as a separate denomination, but as a small movement which is found in many different churches. What should cause real concern, however, is the way in which this view has been adopted into the teachings of two groups which are clearly out of line with the main tenets of biblical Christianity. The first of these is known as the Worldwide Church of God, founded by the late Herbert W. Armstrong. Armstrong made British-Israelism a vital part of his doctrinal system, which also denies the deity of the Holy Spirit and the reality of everlasting punishment. Armstrong's theology further imposes the Old Testament laws on the believer as a means of salvation. Another group which has adopted British-Israelism is the "Identity" movement of white supremacy. A number of groups, affirming the Satanic character of Zionism and the so-called worldwide Jewish conspiracy, have adopted British Israelism to prove the superiority of the white race over Jews, Asiatics and Negroes. These groups have often led demonstrations-against the supposed Jewish control of money and the media, as well as engaging in violent actions against so called Jewish "enemies." What Is The Scriptural History Of The Ten Lost Tribes? A detailed refutation of the many explanations of the history of Israel's northern tribes is impossible within the scope of this chapter. The great Hebrew-Christian scholar, David Baron, in his work The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes has provided the most detailed and accurate answer to the question. The following is a summary of his main points with a few additional observations of the author. The fallacy inherent in all of the theories about the lost tribes is simply this: they were never lost, but continued as part of the main body of the Jewish people. To illustrate the truthfulness of this statement, consider the following five points: 1. At the time of the disruption of the united kingdom in 930 B.C., faithful Israelites from all the northern tribes joined their brethren in the south and continued their identity as part of the kingdom of Judah. Two books in Scripture that are strangely ignored by British-Israelites are 1 and 2 Chronicles. These books make it clear that the tribes in the north continued their existence as part of Judah after 930 B.C. Consider 2 Chronicles 11:14,16: "For the Levites left their suburban lands and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the LORD; . . . And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers." These verses provide irrefutable proof that many godly individuals out of "all the tribes of Israel" rejected Jeroboam's idolatry and joined the southern kingdom. During the reign of Asa, others followed from Ephraim and Manasseh (2 Chr. 15:9). Thus, it is evident that the kingdom of Judah absorbed many from the northern kingdom through the years. 2. Although it is often assured that all of the northern kingdom went into the Assyrian captivity, Scripture teaches that Israelites continued to live there after the captivity of 721 B.C. Again, Chronicles helps us in this regard. At Hezekiah's invitation, many from the north settled in Judah after the destruction of the northern kingdom (2 Chr. 30). Even later, in 622 B.C., more godly Israelites came to Jerusalem to help repair the Temple (2 Chr. 34:9), and later to celebrate the Passover (2 Chr. 35:17-18). If the northern tribes had become lost, how could these representatives have joined in worship in Jerusalem one hundred years after the Assyrian destruction? A reading of the chronicler's account forces one to the conclusion that not all of the northern tribes went into captivity in 721 B.C Archaeology has confirmed this fact which is so clearly taught in Chronicles. Excavations have revealed that the population of Judah rapidly increased after the fall of the northern kingdom as a result of the many refugees mentioned in 2 Chronicles 11:14-16. Furthermore, archaeologists have uncovered the annals of the Assyrian Sargon in which he tells that he carried away only 27,290 people and 50 chariots (Biblical Archaeologist, VI, 1943, p. 58). Since estimates of the population of the northern kingdom at that time range from 400,000 to 500,000, clearly less then one-twentieth of the population was deported, primarily the leaders from the area around Samaria. The ten tribes, therefore, were never lost because they were never deported! Their kingdom was destroyed and ceased to exist, but most of them stayed, with some around Samaria intermingling with new immigrants to form the Samaritans (2 Ki. 17:24-41). 3. When the Jews returned from their Babylonian captivity in 536 B.C. and the following years, the chronicler viewed the restored community, as the remnant of all Israel, both north and south, and not just the tribe of Judah: "Now the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinim. And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh" (1 Chr. 9:2-3). According to these verses, we should look to find Ephraim and Manasseh, not in England and America, but in Jerusalem following the return from Babylon. Furthermore, the people at that time viewed themselves as part of all Israel for they offered "twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel" (Ezra 6:17). Although British-Israelism confidently asserts that Judah and Israel are always separate and distinct, a concordance shows that in the Book of Ezra the restored community is called "Jews" only eight times and "Israel" fifty times. The writer evidently viewed the terms as interchangeable, both applying to the same people after the captivity. 4. The New Testament clearly indicates that there were individuals in the first century who still maintained their tribal identities some of whom were members of those supposedly lost tribes. Consider, for example, the aged Anna who beheld the baby Jesus in the Temple. Luke 2:36 states that she was of the "tribe of Asher." When Paul spoke of his Jewish brethren, he spoke of a common promise and a common hope: "Unto which promise our twelve tribes earnestly serving God day and night, hope to come" (Acts 26:7). James addressed his epistle "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad" (Jas. 1:1). He made no distinction between Judah and the ten tribes. All Jews were part of a common body, the only difference being that some were in the land of Israel and some in the Diaspora. Evidently, members of all the tribes existed both inside and outside the Promised Land. The New Testament uses the term "Jew" one hundred seventy four times and the term "Israel" seventy-five times, clearly applying them to the same body of people. It is also striking that the Apostle Paul referred to himself as both a "Jew" (Acts 22:3) and an "Israelite" (Rom. 11:1), and there is never a time when he distinguishes between Jews and Israel, as modern British-Israelism does. If the so-called lost tribes indeed resurfaced as the British people, and if Jeremiah eventually traveled to Britain to establish David's throne there, one would expect some trace of these matters to be mentioned in the New Testament The silence of the New Testament writers in this regard, however, is deafening. The New Testament refers to only one group of people who descended from Jacob: "Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen" (Rom. 9:4-5). 5. Biblical prophecy concerning the end times also indicates continuing tribal distinctions. Although Jews today do not know from which tribe they are descended (with the possible exception of the Levites), Scripture affirms that God knows. Such passages as Revelation 7:4-8 and Ezekiel 48 declare that representatives of restored Israel will be present in the Tribulation and also in the Millennial Kingdom. More complete consideration of these and other prophetic passages about the tribes will be given in the next chapter. SUMMARY To summarize, it can be said, on the basis of Scripture, history and archaeology, that there is no such thing as the ten lost tribes. What was lost was the separate existence of the kingdom of Israel in the north. The tribes, however, continued to exist in the body of the southern kingdom with the terms "Jews" and "Israel" applied to all of the covenant people after captivity. Furthermore, any claim that some ethnic group descended from the ten tribes rests on shaky biblical and historical foundations. British-Israelism, in addition to distorting the Scriptures through its preconceived bias, fosters national pride and is helping to fuel the white supremacist, anti-semitic groups that are spreading their poisonous propaganda today. Satan's attempts to destroy the Jewish people have taken various forms in history, from the days of Antiochus Epiphanes to the murderous plan of Hitler. Now the evil one is promoting the lie that the Jews are not truly the Jews, thus robbing Israel of its promises and covenants and transferring them to the Anglo-Saxon race! Let us continue to be confident in the plain promises of Scripture and not be led astray by the misinterpretations and fanciful imaginings of man! Used with permission from Will Varner and Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry Inc. Messianic Studies Messianic Studies The Messianic Studies column explores the world of the Messianic Believer. Like the church at large, Messianic Judaism contains much diversity. It is made up of numerous views as to what it means to be a Messianic Jew, who we are, what we call ourselves and what we believe. This column will be used to explore this variety, giving the reader a broader perspective of Messianic Judaism than found elsewhere, exposing those of us who are Messianic Believers to the wide spectrum of practice found within the movement. Hopefully we will succeed in helping our Jewish brothers and sisters to understand why we follow Yeshua as our savior. We also hope that what is provided here will give our gentile readers both a better understanding of their Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as the Jewish roots of their own faith. ------------------------- A LACK OF IDENTITY By Chana Cohn From the LEVITT LETTER, February 1992 Recently, a coworker spotted my necklace, a star with a cross at its center, and exclaimed, "You're a Messianic Jew!" I was almost as shocked as he was. During the weeks since I had started working at Texas Instruments, I had been explaining to bewildered coworkers that I am a Jewish believer in the Messiah Jesus. They would nod slowly, stare at the necklace, pause and then change the subject. One time at a Christian gathering, after I had explained my identity as a Jewish believer, a man clapped me on the back and asked, "Aren't you glad to be liberated from the bondage of the law?" He then went on to criticize the Judaism of the Old Testament, congratulating me on my release from tyranny as though my Jewishness were something I needed to escape in order to appreciate the grace of God. Somehow I gathered the impression that he did not have a thorough understanding of the Old Testament. But an even more painful misunderstanding often occurs when I explain to another Jewish person that I believe the Messiah has come and that He is Jesus. Frequently, the response is, "Then you're not really Jewish." Other times: "When did you convert?" or "What made you give up Judaism?" Always there is an underlying assumption that I cannot be Jewish and believe in Jesus at the same time. In these different situations the same basic need emerges: the need for a sense of identity. Among both Gentiles and Jews the misconception frequently surfaces that Christianity and Judaism are completely separate and mutually exclusive. With such ideas reinforced in both Gentile and Jewish cultures, it is no wonder that many Jewish believers struggle to find a suitable expression of their identity as the remnant of Israel, even though Christianity began as a splinter of Judaism. Many Gentile Christians do not recognize the Jewish context of the New Testament. As a result much teaching lacks the depth that key symbols and phrases draw upon and the resonance of a Jewish conception of a powerful, unsearchable and glorious God who redeems His people and honors His covenants. And while the church sometimes lacks the richness it could have in its teaching, it also lacks an important component in its congregations - Jewish people. The church has shrugged its shoulders at its unsaved Jewish neighbors and turned its back on the people through whom the Messiah came. While laboring (and rightly so) toward the evangelization of far-away people crippled by disease and poverty, the church often ignores its Jewish neighbors at home, blinded for want of Jesus' true light and starving in their souls for lack of bread from heaven. But not only because of a cultural and moral obligation should the church reach out to the Jewish people, but if nothing else because Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Roman 1:17) Paul's mission did not end with his death, and neither should his burden for Jewish evangelism. Paul believed that a Jewish audience should have priority in the proclamation of the Gospel. Today many Jews never hear the Gospel proclaimed at all. If, as some Christians have claimed, "first for the Jews" means that the opportunity for Jewish acceptance of the Messiah ended when the nation of Israel rejected Jesus, then there would be no reason for Jewish people to exist today. Why would God go to the trouble of preserving the Jewish nation through two thousand years of tumultuous history if He has already sealed off their access to salvation through the Gospel? Such a decision would mean that God has rejected His covenant with Israel and yet still allowed generations to be born without hope of a return to communion with God, possible only through being a part of the body of Christ. Yet even the continued existence of the Jewish people witnesses to that very covenant which God made with Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3) and renewed through Moses (Deuteronomy 29:12-13). God has not allowed His people to die out because the Jewish nation has not yet achieved its fullest identity through the worship of His Son. This is not to say that Jewish people are unified in their own definition of what Jewish identity means. In the great debate of "What is a Jew?" many voices clamor to be heard, to proclaim once and for all what makes a person Jewish. In the Jewish population at large, personal criteria range: one believes that all Jews should live in Israel, another that every rabbinic ordinance should be rigorously obeyed, and yet another that Jewishness is fulfilled through commitment to the Jewish community. Some Jews do not even believe in God. It seems that the only point at which Jewish voices unite is to proclaim that Jews do not believe in Jesus. This is hardly a positive affirmation of identity. The Jewish community does not become more defined through its denial of Jesus' Lordship any more than a caterpillar becomes more of a caterpillar by refusing to be a butterfly. In fact it becomes less so. A caterpillar is born to be a butterfly, and even if it could refuse to do so, it would not develop into the spectacular display of beauty as the creature it was created to be. In a similar way the very existence of Jewish people testifies to the God who would stop at nothing to preserve us. But it also means much more. We were created for God's purpose: to be transformed by the love of Jesus and to shine as a light to the Gentiles, a kingdom of priests for the nations (from Isaiah 49:6 and Exodus 19:6). Since the Jewish people have not yet fulfilled God's mission, then the true issue here is not as some Jewish people understand it. This is not the preference of one religion over another, Christianity over Judaism, but rather the penetrating question, is Jesus the Jewish Messiah? By holding this question firmly in mind, Jewish believers, as members of both the Christian and Jewish communities, can start to understand ourselves, our relationship to each other, and the God who made all of us. Jewish believers need to have a clear sense of who we are in relation to both Old and New Testaments, completely Jewish and completely Christian. Sometimes our mission becomes obscured in an effort to retain our Jewish identities. Harsh disagreements can arise over worship style, eating habits and diction preferences. Certainly Paul already addressed some of these issues in Roman 14:13-23 when he discussed clean and unclean food. Squabbling accomplishes little. It can cause pain to others and even division in the church at large. As the remnant of Israel, we need to have a sense of community with each other, a transglobal identification, firmly committed to remaining followers of the true God of Israel, faithfully proclaiming Jesus as the only way to the Father (John 14:6). This is not to say that we need to start over and ignore the history of the church for the past two thousand years. Important ideas have traveled down the years through the hands of mostly Gentile believers. Perhaps it is now time for more of the hands to be Jewish. As Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus we enjoy a rich heritage of thought and deed left to us by those who have gone before. Now, without dismissing historical Christianity, Jewish believers need to remind the church at large of what the New Testament looks like from a Jewish perspective. And without apologizing for our professed faith or fellowship, Jewish believers need to challenge unsaved Jewish people to fulfill their calling as the Chosen People, not chosen for their own sake, but chosen for God's greater glory the glory that shines through Jesus, just as rays shine from the sun. Anee M'Amin Anee M'Amin ANEE M'AMIN is Hebrew for "I believe". Every month this column features the testimony of a Jewish believer in Messiah. FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT By Simcha Davidov My parents, both Jews, came to Israel in 1934 from Europe. My father was born in Bulgaria and my mother was born in Poland. I was born at Kibbutz Kfar-Menachem, an agricultural village located between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, ten miles away from the seashore and close to the Bible city called Livna, one of the cities Joshua conquered. I grew up in the Kibbutz and went to grade school and high school there. Our Kibbutz belonged to the movement called Hashomer-Hatzaer (the "Young Guard"), and the life style and educational system were completely secular. The only Jewish tradition that was felt was in the holiday festivals. The Bible was considered to be a book of legends, not facts, and what we were taught about the Bible was based on those beliefs. In October 1973, when the Yom Kippur War started, I was in Eilat, a port city in the south of Israel, located on the shores of the Red Sea. I was working in a dockyard when I was called to fight in the Sinai Desert. I had served in the army during my three years of duty, and was in the tanks division. The war was a terrible experience for me and caused great bitterness in my heart. As a result, I began going through much self-searching and was trying different ways to find the answer to life and to find inner peace. For about seven years I searched. I tried Yoga exercises and tried to follow Eastern religions. I experienced with many different kinds of drugs. Nothing brought me the peace for which I was searching. During the time when I was in Eilat, a believer in Yeshua (Jesus), named Avraham, told me Yeshua was the Messiah of Israel. We worked and lived at the same place and I observed something genuine about his life. I believe it was at that time that God first put His seed of faith in my heart, through Avraham. After this period, I traveled for a year in the East, through India and Thailand to Australia and back to England. Then I came to the United States to live. After two years in this country, I began reading the Bible a Christian friend had given me and I was soon opening myself to new ideas. I was becoming tired of the drugs and the culture that surrounded them. I felt I was caught up in a cycle of getting "high" and coming down and getting "high." Believers began to witness to me and to give me reading material. They were also interested in talking about Israel and I became interested and involved with them. I finally became receptive to what they were trying to tell me because I was at a low point in my life and felt a great void, and a great need to fill the void. This time was the beginning of learning for me, and getting to know more about this very special person Yeshua. Watching the Christian television broadcasts also created faith in me, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). I cried to God to fill my need and the void inside me and asked His Son Yeshua to come in and live in my heart. I read the entire new covenant scriptures and believed them to be true facts. I found His powerful name is YESHUA, not YESHU, as the people in Israel call Him, taking out the meaning which is SALVATION. A new life had begun for me in the fall of 1978. YESHUA said: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6). Finding Yeshua, I was on the way. Being on the way, I found the truth. Having the truth, I received the life, life eternal and also life more abundantly. Coming to The God of Israel through Yeshua (Jesus) brought me from DARKNESS TO LIGHT. Today you can be Born Again (John 3:3). The Bible (Word of God) says: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God (Isaiah 59:2a). All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6b). But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5 & 6). Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered (Joel 2:32a). It is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11b). Believe and trust God's Word in the Bible. Pray this prayer from your heart: God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I need you, I have sinned in your sight and am not worthy of your goodness. I believe in the atonement (forgiveness, covering) you gave us through the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) and I receive Him now into my heart and life to make me new in Him. AMEN. I have had two years of Bible Leadership training through Word of Faith Leadership and Bible Institute, Dallas, Texas. I strongly encourage Jewish people and Israelis to check for themselves the claims of Yeshua (Jesus) that He is the Messiah of Israel and the world. In our own scriptures (the Tanach), the evidences are many. At the moment I am in part-time ministry in the Messianic Jewish movement. I participate in the worship, preaching and teaching in the Jewish part of the body of Messiah and reaching all with the "Good News" to the Jew first (Romans 1:16). Witnessing Column Witnessing... in Israel by ZVI WITNESSING ... in Israel By ZVI, special correspondent in Israel to ISRAEL MY GLORY magazine It is written in Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and so it must be. My wife suffers from rheumatism, and recently her doctor prescribed a visit to the Dead Sea. Many people from the Middle East, Europe, and other parts of the world come to the Dead Sea to soak in its therapeutic water, and on our visit we encountered people from many countries. Among them was a group of Jews from Yemen, most of whom are ultra-Orthodox. What's more, they believe in many old traditions handed down from generation to generation. I know their mentality, customs, and culture very well, and shortly after we arrived that morning I began to talk with them. They were very pleasant, and although I was the only Ashkenazic (European) Jew among them, we soon became friends and spent many hours in conversation while bathing in the Dead Sea. As evening approached, one of the men said, "It is time to pray the Maariv (evening prayer)," and immediately there arose a heated debate. And what was it about? Some of the men said that the Maariv should be prayed at 8:00 p.m., while others said it should be prayed at 7:30 p.m.! Of course I was listening in on their conversation, but only listening. Finally one of the leaders, an old man with a long white beard, said, "We have an Ashkenazi among us, so why are we having this foolish discussion? Let's ask his opinion." I had prayed for such an opportunity, but I left it in the Lord's hands, and He graciously answered my prayers. The man who spoke was a rabbi and he said to me, "You see the dispute that is going on. Tell these people what time we should pray the Maariv." I replied, "God doesn't put advertisements on the street corners telling us when to pray. It is written in Psalm 121:4, 'Behold, he who keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.' If you are a few minutes late in praying, it is not the end of the world. God is always awake, and He always hears when we pray. We can pray to Him at any time of the day or night. The important thing is that we come to Him with an open heart. If you pray from a prepared list of requests or from a prayer book that was written for you by someone else, it is not, in my opinion, true prayer. It is more like dictation that a boss gives to a secretary, who then sends it on to another." They were surprised at my attitude and asked, "How can you pray without a prayer book?" I replied, "Nowhere in the Bible is it written that you must read your prayers from a book that someone wrote for you. How can you call that prayer?" This statement caught their interest, and they told me they had never talked with their rabbis about such things. Then they asked, "How do you pray?" I replied, "First I read the Bible, and then I pray, opening my heart to my Heavenly Father. In Psalm 117:1 it is written, 'Oh, praise the LORD, all ye nations; praise him, all ye people.' Therefore, I praise His holy name. But I can tell that you have boycotted the Bible and everything that is holy, adhering instead to your old traditions, which are nothing more than vanity of vanities. It is written in Proverbs 31:30, 'Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain,' but this is what you are worshiping, and your children also, and your children's children. Where will it all end? Someone must open your eyes and warn you about such vanity. Again, it is written in Jeremiah 31:29-30, 'In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity.'" Most of the Yemenite Jews are very religious and know the Scriptures, but their problem is that they cannot break away from the traditions of their fathers. Now these men started to ask me questions about the Bible. I answered them very carefully, not wanting to offend them and lose the opportunity to have further contact with them. After a while the rabbi said, "This has been a good time of questions and answers, and you are a very interesting man and also very serious, which is good because now I want to ask you a serious question. When do you think our Messiah will come?" Since the beginning of this long conversation I had been waiting for this one question, and I thanked God that it came from the rabbi. I said, "You may not believe what I am about to tell you, but it is, nevertheless, the truth. Do you see this small Bible I am holding?" "Yes," he replied. I then handed it to him and said, "Please read aloud the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. I am sure that in it you will find the answer to your question." He took the Bible and said, "This is the book of books." "It certainly is," I replied, as I helped him open it to Isaiah 53. He read the entire chapter and then said, "Tell me, what is the meaning of this?" I responded, "I know that you have never read this forbidden chapter." Then I started at the beginning and explained each verse, making very clear the meaning of these important words. When we finally ended our conversation, it was far past the time for the evening prayer, but I had the joy of praying with them and for them with an open heart before the Lord. I thank God that He gave me the great privilege of being His servant among these ones who were, as God told Moses, "a stiff-necked people" (Ex. 32:9). Please pray that the Lord will give me further opportunity to speak with these people and that they will open their hearts to Him as their Messiah. Pray also for my wife as she suffers with rheumatism and is recovering from serious cornea transplant surgery. Prayer Guidelines Prayer Guidelines WHY SHOULD CHRISTIANS PRAY FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE By Ace Edwards (From ISRAEL MY GLORY magazine) We are commanded to pray for the Jewish people. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Ps. 122:6a). God blesses those who pray for the Jewish people. "They shall prosper who love thee" (Ps. 122:6b). God has an everlasting love for Jewish people. "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee" (Jer. 31:3). We are to pray for the salvation of Jewish people. "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved" (Rom. 10:1). God desires that a remnant of Jewish people be saved. "Isaiah also crieth out concerning Israel Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved" (Rom. 9:27). The Church is not complete without Jewish believers. "For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greeks, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13). Christians are indebted to the Jew for: a. THE BIBLE ... "What advantage, then, hath the Jew? ... Much every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:1-2). b. THEIR SAVIOR ... "Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all God blessed forever. Amen" (Romans 9:5). c. THEIR SALVATION ... "We know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). d. THE CHURCH ... "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls . . . Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:41, 47). We encourage you not to neglect this important ministry. Please join us in prayer for our Jewish friends, and invite others to do likewise. Ace Edwards is a semi-retired representative of FRIENDS OF ISRAEL GOSPEL MINISTRY in Seal Beach, California. ------------------------- TRAVELLING ON MY KNEES By Sharon Sanders (Adapted from a poem by Sandra Goodwin) Last night I took a journey to ISRAEL across the seas; I did not go by boat or plane, I traveled on my knees. I saw so many precious people there with scars and wounds within, But God told me I should go, that there was oil to pour for Him. But I said, "Lord, I cannot go and work with such as these" He answered quickly, "Yes, you can ... by traveling on your knees." He said, "You pray; I'll meet their need, You call and I will hear, Be concerned about their fate, of those both far and near. And so I tried it, knelt in prayer, gave up some hours of ease; I felt the Lord right by my side, while traveling on my knees. As I prayed on and saw they helped and the badly wounded healed, I saw God's workers strength renewed, while laboring on the field. I said, "Yes, Lord, I have a job, My desire Thy Will to please; can go and heed Thy Call, By traveling on my knees " Sharon Sanders and her husband Ray are directors of CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL in Jerusalem. SCUD Warnings SCUD Warnings by Jerry Johnson S piritual C ounterfeits U ndermining D octrine W A R N I N G S * * * * * * * * * * * * by Jerry Johnson A phrase has been heard to be making the rounds; A concept declared to be Biblically sound. The idea, I will show, is not as it seems; It falls apart quickly, before its' extremes. "Satan is limited, there's a thing he can't do, He can't be original or make something new. So all that he does, he did copy or steal from God up above and that is for real." "So whatever you see being done by the bad First belonged to believers ...isn't that sad? So we must take back all that which was taken There's so much to use, come quickly, awaken." "Since Satan has used it, it's now ours to claim, we can do it for Jesus to bring him more fame. So believers pursue it, and use it with joy, we've got some fun methods, some spiritual toys." So speak what you want and make it to happen. Create what you want ...just start to yappin'. But watch what you say, but only speak positive, or bad things will start, you know that its causative. Or see with your mind the Jesus you love You can see him in denim relaxing above. Its an aid to your faith when you visual-ize. Oh, do it just right and your dreams realize If you're not in sync with your born-again chakras Get your choir to "OM", it's like Christian opera. Your crystals anointed by elders in church, will get you through life with nary a lurch. Arrange for a seance with Moses and Paul. And why not have David? Hey, channel them all! The advice that you'll get'll be both sage and wise, when your deacons speak out with the voice of these guys. If knowing the future's your favorite thing just try Christian Tarot, palm reading, I Ching. Or during home fellowship, to help you to cope, the group can pray over your own horoscope. And keep your mind blank, if you do meditate. Do it for Jesus and you'll levitate. Mystic things that you seek don't have to be shoddy, Do it just right, have your soul leave your body. Seek UFO's ...ESP and clairvoyance. To just live by faith? That's just an annoyance. So try all these things, you won't be the same. Give witchcraft a shot ...in Jesus' name. *********************************** Walt Whitman I'm not. You didn't have to say "Amen" so loud! Also, you don't have worry about me taking up too much room on your hard disk ...I'm not actually going to talk about all the weird stuff in the poem. Just the two that have made inroads into the church. A number of years ago my wife and I attended a Deception and Discernment seminar in Berkeley, California put on by the Spiritual Counterfeits Project. It was an excellent seminar with classes on numerous topics. The seminar was punctuated by Christians coming together out of common concern and a desire to emphasize the truth. But then there was THE class ....the one that ended with people upset at each other and some people crying and a great deal of dissension. No, it wasn't a church board meeting. It was the class that dealt with visualization. Now, for those who may not be sure what visualization is: It isn't a new type of 3-D movie. It isn't those sunglasses that let you see behind you. And it isn't an eye exam done by computer. If you talk to either New Agers or Christians who have bought into it, visualization is an aid to faith, a way to help God to make that which you desire to become reality. It is done by repeatedly and consistently creating a very clear mental image of an object or goal desired. It is taught that if you create the image with enough fervor and mental clarity, it will help the thing to occur in reality. Christians may also create a mental image of Christ and converse with this Jesus and get advice. They love the method and are often adamant in its defense. You probably have already had some exposure to the teaching of visualization. If you've seen athletes mentally go through their race or dive or course while leaning and jumping and swaying with their eyes closed, you've seen a form of visualization in action. Many sales or business seminars now teach people to visualize the sale or completed project in order to help it to happen. If you are into the evolution of language you may have noticed that somewhere in the last seven years or so people are now telling you to visualize something rather than to imagine it. "So what's wrong with visualization?" Two things: 1) It has been, is, and always will be an occultic method. For a reference please (do not) see the first published account of how to visualize. You will find it in an article in a book published in the 1920's by Alice A. Bailey, a prominent member of the occult group, the Theosophical Society. The article was entitled "Treatise on White Magic". 2) It works. "Wait a minute here! First you're setting up to trash visualization ...and then you say it works?!" That's one of the main reasons that I'm trashing it. Remember, a lot of things that are not appropriate work. Drugs make you feel good for a while, despite what objective reality is; same thing with alcohol, illicit sexual activity, and a lot of the pleasures of the world that work for a season. They are effective, seductive and destructive. Now, I don't mean that if you imagine a Porsche in your front yard it will show up, but visualization has been used to "help" physical illness and it has improved performances by those using it. "Then what's wrong with it?" It's a lot like asking what's wrong with killing people in order to get served more quickly at a restaurant. The goal in itself is O.K., but the method leaves something to be desired. You can find visualization taught throughout the history of published occult, arcane and esoteric literature, including the book "Real Magic" by Phillip Bonewits, the only person to graduate from Cal State Berkeley with a degree in Magic and I don't mean pulling rabbits out of a hat. At the end of the book he explains how to "launch" a magic spell. A primary part of that process is visualization. By contrast, a group of Christians was given the challenge of finding anything in the Bible that even smacked of visualization. One man came up with the story of Babel and Genesis 11:6, "And the Lord said, 'Behold, the people is one and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.' " That's as close as scripture EVER gets to even inferring this method and the word "imagine" in the Hebrew is "zamam" which means to plan or plot for evil intent. Not exactly a glowing recommendation. Years ago I was taught how to visualize by a well intentioned, but underinformed, Christian psychologist in a Christian college. I became good at it ... very good. I was able to stop a friend's asthma attack quicker than her medication. I was able to control my stress level. I was able to stop my colds within two days. I, I, I, I. Notice a trend? If you suddenly, evidently possess the power to get what you want ..who needs God, or more accurately, who will stop to seek God's will if you can get your own will? After all, if God wants something into your life and you yield to His leading, does He really need your help to create the reality? And if He doesn't want you to have it, isn't rebellion to go after it anyway? Visualization isn't just an occult method and it isn't just a distraction to a life of faith IN GOD (not yourself or your ability to imagine). It creates pride and begins to warp your doctrine and view of God. "Now, you're really blowing wind!" I wish that were true. In a recent book a VERY prominent and repeatedly published Christian author had a chapter that extolled the virtues of using your imagination to develop intimacy with God. What he taught was visualization. In this chapter the author made the following statement which, by the way, is wholly in the context and intent of the chapter: "We cannot commune with a Savior whose form and shape elude us". That is really interesting when lined up to John 4:24 "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth". The author loses. And so do those who follow his lead. Exodus 20:4 instructs us to not worship any created images. I believe that probably includes mentally created images. After all, if I commune with a God whose form and shape have not eluded me I have two problems. 1) I am communing with a god that I have defined by my imagination. MY imagination, formed by MY mind, which is neither perfect nor capable of recreating a complete and accurate picture of God. My desires and prejudices will color both the image I create and the advice that image gives. 2) If I can figure God out well enough to imagine a Biblically accurate and complete image with my brain, that God's pretty small and probably doesn't warrant my worship. After all, my brain can't even imagine or understand how a TV set I plug into a wall can produce accurate replications of actors that did their thing weeks or years ago. If I can't figure how a TV works, how in the world am I supposedly capable of accurately imagining God? It just don't make sense. Let me be blunt: I HATE visualization. At one point it seduced me and I hate to see others get sucked in. It is an occult method that has NO place in the life of a believer. It is not a neutral tool. It's a satanic one. No, I won't win any diplomacy awards for this article. Now on to a briefer look at the second occultic method. And, yes, you can breath a sigh of relief. "Lizard tongue and wing of bat, Tooth of hen and leg of gnat, Grant the wish I wish to hold, Give me lots and lots of gold" Most of us would recognize that poem as a farcical version of a magic spell ... it's also not all that different from a teaching that has made MAJOR inroads into the lives of many believers. I quote a book that is extremely popular with the people that hold to this second type of error: "Those that say they can and those that say they can't are both right. Words are the most powerful thing in the universe." "God never did do anything that He didn't say first. He said it then He did it. The power to do t was in the Word." "You must watch what you say. You have to believe that those things that you say - everything you say - will come to pass." I could go on ... ad infinitum, ad nauseam. This error is known as positive confession. Historically it's known as casting a spell. It is the idea that whatever you say, because you said it, creates reality. Therefore, you can only verbalize things that you want to happen. I had a friend that believed in positive confession. She had a book of verses, taken out of context, of course, that were to be said in order to create a positive reality. Included in this book was a verse that talked about God holding back the flood waters. It was to be stated to overcome a woman's water retention. I am NOT making that up. I still chuckle about that. That friend died while positively confessing she had been healed of cancer. To me, this particular belief (spelled h-e-r-e-s-y) has two ridiculously obvious doctrinal problems: 1) It holds that the spoken word is "the most powerful thing in the universe". That concept is easily trashed in Exodus 20 where it is declared that we are to have no other gods ...most powerful things, if you will ...before him. Also, if what they say is true, when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and said how he would gather Jerusalem as a hen gathers its' chicks, he should have spouted feathers. Just joking! 2) Man's spoken will then becomes sovereign. Not God's will ... man's. Besides, since this teaching has no basis in reality, as my dead friend can now attest, it just sets people up to deny reality and live, and die, in a world of fantasy, wishful thinking and self-delusion. Both visualization and positive confession are gaining converts in the church today. Both deceive and delude those who end up following their own desires rather than seeking God's will. Both are simply witchcraft ... supposedly done in Jesus' name. Next time: Religion by the ton; Heavy shepherding groups. Bible Quiz Bible Quiz This month's Bible Quiz follows our theme of Israel. Unscramble the following groups of letters to reveal the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, as listed in Numbers 1:5-15. 1. Ichassar _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2. Hudaj _ _ _ _ _ 3. Eenurb _ _ _ _ _ _ 4. Belzunu _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5. Dag _ _ _ 6. Moseni _ _ _ _ _ _ 7. Pieramh _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 8. Asemahns _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9. Janenmibn _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 10. And _ _ _ 11. Shera _ _ _ _ _ 12. Palithan _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Christian Life Department People Profile People Profile - Ruth J. Harris Morning Star Senior Editor, Teresa Giordanengo, conducted this interview with Ruth J. Harris, a Messianic Pastor of the Beth-Messiah Congregation in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Teresa: You were born and raised in Israel. What is your ancestry in Israel? Ruth: I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1924. I am the fourth generation born in Israel on my father's side. My ancestors came from Spain, having been flushed out at the time of the Inquisition. Then they went to French Morocco before immigrating to Israel during the Turkish rule. My great grandmother was born in Israel, so I am the fourth generation. Teresa: What was your father's occupation in Israel? Ruth: My father was one of the original Haganah members, which means to protect or to shield. They are the protectors of Israel and fought the Arabs and the British Government during the Mandate. My family was involved in the Haganah and the right wing fighters. In fact, I was too. When I was five and a half years old, my father got a position as a teacher and an Olympic Trainer. He got this position because he was with the Maccabees as one of the leaders and always trained. The Maccabees today are the people who send the athletes to the Olympics. They are a sports oriented group. The Maccabees are all over the world today. When my father got the position as teacher and trainer, we moved to Casablanca and lived there for three and a half years. My father trained for the Olympics and as a teacher he taught Hebrew and the Bible. We came back to Palestine (or Israel) in 1935. I have a habit of calling our country Israel because to us Israel will always be Israel. Samaria and Judea were always Israel too. Teresa: What was it like growing up in Israel? Ruth: My mother migrated to Israel from Russia after the Czar was assassinated and the Communist Party took over. Many of the Jews left Russia because of all the killings and assassinations. When my mother came to Israel, she did not speak Hebrew. She spoke German, French and Russian fluently. My father came from French Morocco and spoke Hebrew and French. My parents had a common language which was French. I grew up speaking French in the home. In Casablanca I was enrolled in a French school. Of course my mother was Russian and she taught me Russian too, when I was a little girl. When her Russian girlfriends came to visit, I always understood everything they were saying. I understood the three languages: Hebrew, French, and Russian. But, I wrote and spoke Hebrew and French the best. When we came back to Israel from Casablanca in 1935, I continued to go to the French school for a while, and then I was transferred to the Israeli public school. I lived in Tel Aviv until I was twenty-one years of age. Teresa: How much schooling did you have in Israel? Ruth: I just had the regular number of years of school which was equivalent to high school here in the states. We girls never went to college then. We usually took a correspondence course or attended a business school and that was about the extent of education for the girls. Teresa: When did you attend the synagogue in Israel? Ruth: Once a year on the high holidays we attended the synagogue. My grandparents were very orthodox. We lived a long time with my grandparents before moving out on our own. Then the war broke out. I would not say we were liberal; we were sort of in the middle. For myself, I was a religious girl only as far as being an Israeli was concerned. I was very strong and dedicated to the land of Israel and to my Jewishness. I was strong in the underground movement because all the young people are trained this way. We are always waiting for the war to be over and ready to fight for our freedom. Teresa: What were the events that led to your coming to America? Ruth: I went to school and when the war broke out, I joined the Israeli Opera and Ballet. In the ballet I danced, sang, and performed. During this time I met my first husband who was an American of German heritage. We got married and I came to the United States in 1946, immediately after the war, as a war bride. We lived in Beaver, Pennsylvania. I felt bad about leaving Israel, but I told the people in the Jewish communities, here in the states, about the background of Israel and I raised money for the people in Israel. Teresa: You are writing a book. Would you tell us what it is about? Ruth: I am in the process of writing a book that will be published in a few months. In this book I have traced the original background of my parents as far back as I could. All the details are in the book, including my life story. Teresa: How and when did you become a believer in Jesus the Messiah? Ruth: While in bondage and having many problems in my home, I cried out with all my heart to God. I always believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Although I married a gentile boy, I was always faithful to my God, morally and spiritually. I attended the church services on Sunday mornings just to please the family. My husband and I, and our two sons, lived with his parents for many years. We attended a very liberal church. I never heard the gospel and that we must be born again. There was really nothing there, but I did enjoy the young people's group. It was all social. I did not get anything spiritually. I was filled with fear, anguish, and desperation due to the family problems. I was alone in this country and was in a situation beyond my control. I remember that I knelt beside my little cot and threw myself on the floor and cried and cried for my God to get me out of here. I was so frightened. All of a sudden I stopped praying like that and I said, "Oh dear God, one time you saved my life. Please come to me once again and show me who Jesus is. I don't want to believe in Him and be sincerely wrong and go to hell." I was sobbing and I got up and got under the covers and cried myself to sleep. I did not know that Jesus died for me, and that He resurrected. I did not even know He had disciples. I did not know the life of Jesus at all. Towards morning Jesus appeared to me in a dream. All of a sudden I awakened with such a peace; a peace that I never had before. Many details followed in how the Lord worked everything out for me, but suffice it to say that the pastor of the Presbyterian Church, the elders of the church, and many, many Christians surrounded me and helped me in the days that followed. They moved me into an apartment and helped me in many ways. I began attending Bible classes. A sister in the Lord, who attended a Christian Missionary Alliance Church, became my spiritual mother. We attended many prayer meetings together and this is when I found out who Jesus really is. I acquired my first Bible and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I learned how to pray and found out what it meant to be born again. I learned many scriptures to hold on to like Isaiah 41 that said I am not to fear, the Lord will take care of me. Teresa: When were you ordained as a minister of the Gospel? Ruth: A few friends and I decided to start a Messianic Congregation in a private home. The Bishop of a church and a Pentecostal preacher approached me at separate times about being ordained. They said that the Lord told them that I was to be ordained. I was ordained and we began meeting at the Church of the Brethern, here in Squirrel Hill. We have a full fledged Messianic Congregation here with beautiful people. Half of the congregation are Jewish believers and half are Gentile believers with Jewish hearts. They love the Jewish people. I have met Russ and Norma Bixler of Channel 40 Cornerstone TV in Pittsburgh and have appeared on Christian television to present the Jewish Passover including the meaning of the New Covenant. Teresa: I know you have studied and worked with missionaries, but what new work are you involved in? Ruth: I went to Denver, Colorado, and spoke in a few churches, presenting the passover. They had never heard anything like that. The people who invited me to come, told a Jewish Dermatologist that I was a Messianic believer from Israel. He wanted to meet me and invited me to his home. He is the type of person that, if you are for Israel, he is your friend. I shared the gospel with him and gave him a New Testament in Hebrew and English. He was very gracious and accepted the Word of the Lord and we left many tracts concerning salvation with him. He invited us to a Jewish home to meet many more people. I really do believe that we sowed many seeds with this doctor and his wife. Also, I travel to Israel often. My mother and brother lived in New York for a while, but then mother wanted to return to Israel. She never wanted to hear about the Lord, but I am happy to say that before she died, she did believe and accept Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, as her Lord and Savior. Praise the Lord! Teresa: What would be a final thought you would like to leave with our readers? Ruth: I want to say that no matter what happens to you , look away from yourself, trust in the Lord and press on. Don't listen to people, go to the Lord and see what He has to say. I had to step out, no matter what people said, and put my trust in Him and He never let me down. The more I leaned on Him, the more He was responsible to take care of me. I always remember what the Lord said to me; "I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. I will bring it to pass, you just trust me and I will do it." I always remember that and I lean on Him. We have to exercise strength in the Lord through suffering. He suffered for us. I am not asking Him to feather my nest. Many great lives have come through suffering. We are here as believers in the body of Christ. We have to press on towards the mark, putting our hands to the plough and never looking back. To me suffering is like exercise. The more we exercise, the more we must discipline ourselves. It doesn't feel good and we have muscle ache, but we know it is good for our body. In the long run, we get strength from it. And this is how I feel about our walk with the Lord; we gain strength through suffering. Teresa: What would be your final word to our readers who are Jewish? Ruth: To the Jews I would say read the old testament right from the beginning. There are many scriptures that point to Yeshua, especially Isaiah 53, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 63, Zechariah 10:12 and the book of Daniel. If we really, sincerely, want to know we should go to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and if we ask sincerely and really want to know, God will show us the truth and the truth will set us free. Ministry Profile Ministry Profile MESSIANIC JEWS AND THE LAW OF RETURN Editor's Note: The following is reprinted with permission from Volume 2 of "The IRC Report", the quarterly report of the International Relations Committee of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), and was written by the Committee's chairman, Dr. Robert Winer. It reviews the current status of the attempts of a number of Messianic Jews to "make Aliyah" (immigrate) to Israel. Despite the fact that Israeli law makes such automatic immigration available to all Jews, the current administration in the Israeli Interior Ministry (which controls immigration issues) categorically denies the Right of Return to Messianic Jews. The MJAA is currently engaged in "Operation Joshua", an effort to collect signatures of people from around the world - Jew and Gentile, Believer and non-Believer - protesting this policy. The International Relations Committee (IRC) is a standing committee of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), which was organized in 1915. The MJAA is the largest national organization of its type in the world representing the interests of Jewish believers in the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). The American alliance is part of a larger international alliance, organized in 1925, which now encompasses thirteen national alliances. The IRC was founded as the "Relations Committee" in 1921 by Dr. John Zacker. It was reorganized as the IRC in January, 1990. The IRC is not a theological committee, although its opinions and actions will reflect its stand as a beacon of Messianic Judaism. From its inception, the IRC has made it its goal to respond to various forms of persecution primarily through the use of the print media to counteract propaganda. In the late 1980's, the MJAA made a decision to become more of an "activist" organization. This is reflected in the IRC's, Plan for the Nineties, which is as follows: 1. To make known that: Messianic Jews exist; that we are Jews; that we are a constituency of note; and that our numbers are growing. 2. Educate the following four communities on the position of Messianic Jews on various issues: Evangelical, Gentile, Jewish, and Messianic Jewish. 3. Create and show solidarity with the Jewish community on appropriate issues. 4. Become an articulate and visible representative for Messianic Jews in America. On December 25, 1989, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected the request of Gary and Shirley Beresford, a Jewish couple from Zimbabwe, to be allowed to make Aliyah (The right of any Jew to immigrate to Israel). Upon arrival, the new immigrant receives immediate citizenship and special benefits. Israeli Supreme Court Justice Elon emphasized that though the Beresfords call themselves Messianic Jews, celebrate the Jewish holidays and declare themselves as belonging to the Jewish people, their belief in Yeshua disqualifies them from Aliyah status. The MJAA asserted in The Jerusalem Post International Edition (May 5, 1990 pg. 4) that "Jewish national identity has never been, nor is at present, contingent upon the faith held by a person of blood-Jewish lineage. Much of the modern Israeli nation is patently agnostic, or walking a path widely aberrant from the [tenets of Orthodox Judaism]." The statement challenged the reader to consider that though a Jew might be an atheist, practice TM, belong to the New Age movement or adhere to eastern Mysticism, in regards to the Law of Return, they still qualify for Aliyah. "Yet, if a Jew who truly clings to his national identity and the heritage of his faith happens to believe in the way hundreds and thousands of Jewish people in the first century did, that Yeshua of Nazareth is the Messiah of Israel, he is told, `You are not a part of the Israeli nation.'" So let us now begin our look into the Law of Return. Background Israel's Declaration of Independence of May 14, 1948 called for an elected assembly to establish a constitution. However no constitution was decided upon and a compromise, known as the Harari Resolution, established that Israel's constitution would be created step by step in a series of basic laws. The Law of Return, one of these "basic laws," was passed on July 5, 1950, stating, "every Jew has the right to come to this country as an 'oleh' (immigrant)." This law did not define the word "Jew." The 1952 Citizenship Law granted immediate citizenship to any Jew who immigrated to Israel on the basis of the Law of Return. The exceptions to the Law of Return are determined by the Minister of Interior who can exclude a prospective immigrant who: 1. has committed acts against the Jewish state, 2. represents a threat to the public health or state security, 3. or has a criminal past and is liable to endanger the public's peace (added in 1954). In 1962, the case of the Jewish believer Oswald Rufeisen highlighted the issue that the 1950 Law of Return lacked a definition of the word "Jew." As a result, the Supreme Court of Israel was compelled, in a series of judgements prior to a 1970 amendment to the Law of Return, to interpret what the framers of the Law of Return meant by the term, "Jew." Their decisions were unanimous in understanding the term "Jew" in its secular meaning. On March 19, 1970 an amendment to the Law of Return was passed that defined a Jew as "anyone born to a Jewish mother or who has converted to Judaism, and is not a member of another religion." The phrase "of their own free will" was added to the section describing members of another religion, thus permitting children of Jews converted to Christianity eligible for Aliyah. This amendment also recognized the right of the non-Jewish spouse, children and grandchildren to immigrate to Israel on the basis of the Law of Return. Since the 1970 amendment, there have been numerous Supreme Court decisions, that have required interpretation of the meaning of the amendment. The cases involving Messianic Jews have focused on the meaning of "is not a member of another religion." Most other cases involving the Jewish status of olim have focused on the meaning of the phrase, "converted to Judaism" in the amendment. Oswald Rufeisen Oswald Rufeisen, known as Father Daniel, was born in Poland, of Jewish parents. He was brought up as a Jew. During the Nazi era, he was in the resistance and rescued many fellow Jews. While hiding from the Nazis in 1945 he became a Catholic and later a Priest. In 1958, he immigrated to Israel, renouncing his Polish nationality. Upon arrival, he applied for an immigrant's certificate which was refused by the Minister of the Interior. Mr. Rufeisen appealed the decision which was eventually denied by the Supreme Court of Israel on December 6, 1962. Rufeisen asserted that he had not ceased to be a Jew upon his conversion and was entitled to an immigrant's certificate under Section 3(a) of the Law of Return which states that "a Jew who has come to Israel and subsequent to his arrival has expressed his desire to settle in Israel may, while still in Israel, receive an immigrant's certificate. "Justices Silberg, Landau, Berinson, Cohn and Many heard the case. Excerpts from the case are given below: Justice Silberg: Rufeisen "risked his own life times beyond number during the dark days of the Holocaust in Europe, to rescue his brother Jews ..." To call Rufeisen a Jew is to "ignore the historical and sanctified meaning of the designation "Jew" and to forget about those spiritual values for which we were massacred at various times during our long exile." As a result Jewish history would "lose its continuity and begin to count its days from the beginning of the Emancipation, after the French Revolution. No man is entitled to demand such a sacrifice from us, even though he have as much to his credit as the petitioner." "The ruling opinion in Jewish law is that an apostate remains a Jew of all purposes, save (perhaps) in principle. This may be seen from the writings and opinions of leading Talmudic commentators and scholars." "The term "Jew" in the Law of Return does not refer to the "Jew" of Jewish religious law, but to the "Jew" of secular law, ... which must be interpreted in the light of the legislative purpose behind it." The Law of Return's "terminology must be given the ordinary everyday meaning which the ordinary Israeli man in the street would attach to it." Which ... "in my opinion, undoubtedly precludes the inclusion of an apostate." "... One thing which all Israel has in common: we do not wish to sever ourselves from our historical past or deny our heritage. Only the very naive could possibly believe or think that we are creating anew culture in Israel. It is too late for that. A nation which is practically the same age as the human race cannot start ab ovo (from the egg), and any new culture which we may introduce cannot, even in the most extreme cases, be anything more than anew edition of our past culture." "An apostate cannot possibly identify himself completely with a people which has suffered so much from religious persecution, and his sincere affection for Israel and its people cannot possibly take the place of such identification." "... the fundamental conception that "Jew" and "Christian" are a contradiction in terms is something which is unreservedly accepted by all... ." Justice Landau "This law gives expression to the realization of one of the aspirations of Zionism, and in order to seek its meaning recourse may be had to the opinions and writings of the fathers of Zion. From these we learn that a Jew who cuts himself off from the national past of his people, by changing his religion, ceases to be a Jew in that national sense which finds expression in the Law of Return. Furthermore, in addition to cutting himself off from his past, a Jew who changes his religion also erects a barrier against any future identification with the Jewish people... ." "For the diaspora Jew, conversion is the first step towards complete assimilation." Justice Berinson "The power to grant an immigrant's certificate under the Law of Return belongs exclusively to the Minister of the Interior and not to the Government. The Minister is the one to decide who is a Jew, and he is not compelled to accept the opinion of the Government. The Knesset did not elect to define "Jew" for purposes of the Law of Return, leaving this question to the discretion of the Minister of the Interior and, in the last instance, to the decision of the courts. "Justice Cohn" I agree with Justice Silberg that according to the Jewish law an apostate remains a Jew." "... in my opinion, all the traditional religious tests applicable to the question of who is a Jew are irrelevant to the interpretation of the Law of Return. For the law of Israel is that religious laws are applicable to matters of marriage and divorce only. It is the demarcation line between obligatory law and nonobligatory religion which symbolizes the rule of law and ensures the citizen of his fundamental rights." "If I have correctly understood my honorable colleague, he cannot, for historical reasons, ever envisage the possibility of regarding as a Jew a person who has allied himself to the Catholic Church, even though this Church is no longer, either in theory or in practice, an enemy of the Jewish people. I for my part, however, feel that change and progress are the very breath of historical continuity. The establishment of the State was a revolutionary event in the history of dispersed Israel. If in the diaspora we have been either a tolerated or persecuted minority, in our own State we have become a nation like all other nations, standing on our own feet. This revolution demands a change in values and in attitude, a revision in our diaspora thinking." "The petitioner is knocking on the gates of the homeland which, in words of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State, were to be "opened wide to every Jew" and the Minister of the Interior refuses him entry because he is wearing the robes of a Catholic priest, because a cross hangs from his neck, and because he declares that he believes in the faith of the Gentiles. If, however, he had packed away his robes, hidden his cross and concealed his faith, the gates would have been opened wide to him and no one would have barred his way." "Times have changed and the wheel has come round full circle. Should a man who regards Israel as his homeland, who is passionately imbued with the desire to live here, but who is a Christian by religion, be denied entrance through the portals of the country for that reason only? Should the State of Israel which is based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel behave towards those returning to her shores as the Catholic monarchies behaved? And did not the prophets of Israel envisage that the gates will be opened so that the righteous Gentile who keeps the truth may enter in?" "If it had not been for the petitioner's faith, no one would have denied that he is a Jew. But only because he is of another religion does the edict of the Government make him a non-Jew. I, for my part, am willing to accept only the first part of the Government's definition of a Jew: a person who in good faith declares himself to be Jewish. I am not prepared to accept their proviso that he must not have any other religion. In the absence of any objective yardstick in the Law of Return itself, there is no alternative but to assume that the legislators wished to make do with a subjective yardstick: that is that the right to return to Israel is reserved to every person who declares he is Jew returning to his homeland and wishing to settle there. The addition of the demand that person should have no other religion goes beyond the powers of the Government and is therefore invalid and not binding." Analysis The opinion of the judges was not unanimous in this case. Despite the verdict against Rufeisen, Justice Cohn's dissenting viewpoint remains a valid legal opinion which can be used in future cases. In the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice Rehnquist now uses his past dissenting non-majority opinions to bolster arguments in current cases. The same could eventually be done in Israeli cases. Several points can be derived from this case that are important to mention: 1. A Jew remains a Jew even after accepting Yeshua. 2. The term "Jew" in the Law of Return was defined by the judges in its secular meaning, which was reflective of the "man in the street" viewpoint among other things. 3. The opinion that a Jewish believer "cannot possibly identify himself with ... " his people should be seriously challenged. This may have been true in the past when most Jewish believers were forcibly ostracized from any contact with other Jews. The climate has dramatically changed. Messianic Jews live, work, and socialize with their fellow Jews. For us, lack of identification with our people seems to be absurd. 4. The assertion that "for the diaspora Jew, conversion is the first step towards complete assimilation" is not true at this time. If anything the issue is just opposite. The latest figures are that 60% of Jews in America now intermarry. The fact seems to be that it is Messianic Judaism which will better preserve the tie to the Jewish nation than traditional Judaism. Although there may be intermarriage among Messianic Jews, I can say almost without exception that Messianic households are raising their children Jewish. Esther Dorflinger Esther Eileen Dorflinger, born to Jewish parents, had made Aliyah to Israel with her two children. After several months at an absorption center in Ashdod, she decided that it would be in the best interests of her children for them to return to the United States permanently. She later returned to Israel alone and sought to renew her residency permit at the office of the Ministry of Immigration in Haifa. It was upon this inquiry that she was told that she should have been stopped at the airport and not allowed to enter the country. Apparently, while she was in the United States, her immigrant's status had been revoked after a complaint had been lodged against her by another immigrant. She was accused of engaging in missionary activities. Esther found herself in Israel without any visa status. Facing deportation, she went to an Open House meeting with Menachem Begin in order to explain the situation to him. The experience is chronicled in her book, "I am my Beloved's": Shalom [Prime Minister Begin]. My name is Eileen Dorflinger. I am a Jewess who has accepted Jesus as the Messiah, and they are trying to deny me the right of citizenship because of my belief ... . He turned around and publicly stated, "Is your mother Jewish?" ... Yes, I answered. "And your father, too?" he asked. Yes, I answered. "Well then you certainly have a right to be a citizen of Israel. I would prefer that you would uphold the traditions of your forefathers, but nevertheless, you are still a Jew. "He walked away, and then turned back to add, "If they give you any further trouble, you write me a personal letter." Eventually she wrote to Begin and shortly afterwards received a letter from the Ministry of Interior renewing a temporary residence visa for two years and returning her identity card. In March, 1979, the Supreme Court of Israel denied her request for citizenship under the Law of Return. She later received permanent residency as a non-Jew and remains in Israel at the present time. Menahem Benhayim, Secretary for Israel of the International Messianic Jewish (Hebrew Christian) Alliance, in reviewing the Dorflinger case said: Dorflinger had argued that she was not a member of any Christian denomination, had not been baptized but "mikvah'd" (the Hebrew term for ritual immersion), and accepted only basic Jewish beliefs. The Interior Ministry ... produced an affidavit from a Congregational Church in New England indicating that she had more than a casual connection with the church. Furthermore, although she did not affirm it, neither would she deny the deity of Messiah. The court ruled that she was certainly Jewish, but at the same time a member of another religion by her own choice, since her beliefs conformed to those of "the other religion." It was suggested that she apply for residence in Israel outside the framework of the Law of Return. She eventually received Permanent Residence status after a bit of coaxing from the Prime Minister's office, where she had won some influential friends for her pro-Israel activities abroad. Dr. David Stern, a Messianic Jewish author living in Jerusalem, elaborated further on this case: Eileen (Esther) Dorflinger ... had been baptized but said her baptism had been not into a church but into the Body of the Messiah. ... Evidence was produced that she had indeed been baptized "into a church" - her name was found on the membership roll, and its present pastor confirmed this. For some reason Esther did not produce countervailing evidence from the former pastor, who had in fact baptized her with the specific understanding that she was being baptized into the Body of Messiah and not into any institution. Second, and more importantly, although Esther produced scriptural and historical evidence that Yeshua fulfills the Tanakh's (Old Testament's) promises concerning the Messiah and that the early believers in Him remained Jews, the court concluded otherwise in her case. No Jew today, it ruled, can believe that Jesus is God or that God is a trinity. Also, although the early believers were indeed Jews, the clock can no longer be turned back to the first century - there has been an unbridgeable parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism. In short, some very bad ad hoc theologizing was done from the bench. Gary and Shirley Beresford The Beresfords, a Messianic Jewish couple from Zimbabwe, immigrated to Israel in December, 1986. At that time, they applied for Aliyah status under Israel's Law of Return. Their application was turned down by the Ministry of the Interior whose office is in charge of matters pertaining to immigration. The Beresford's appeal of this ruling was eventually refused by the Supreme Court of Israel on December 25, 1989. In October 1990, the Supreme Court instructed the Ministry of Interior to grant the Beresfords Permanent Residency status as non-Jews within 60 days, a directive they have decided not to comply with. When interviewed on December 22, 1990. Gary explained that they have been living in Israel on an A-5 Visa (Temporary Residence Permit) since their arrival in 1986. This type of visa must be renewed every 6 months. "When the Supreme Court made their decision in December 1989, denying us Aliyah, we remained on the A-5 Visa till our final status was decided. We were undecided if we would accept Permanent Residency status as non-Jews but fully expected that it would be granted. We will now have to proceed with legal efforts to fight this ruling," said Gary. The appeal process could take as long as six months. It is possible that after all legal efforts are exhausted, the Beresfords could be deported from Israel. "Our financial status has become critical," explained Gary toward the end of the conversation. "What little savings we have left will be exhausted in a few months." Gary has not been able to obtain work in his field and is currently in school for the purpose of being retrained to be employable in Israel. These legal decisions are a grave injustice affecting all Messianic Jews. We have been singled out as the only segment of the Jewish people that are denied their right as blood-born Jews to immigrate to the nation of Israel as Olim (new immigrants under the Law of Return). If you would like to join the MJAA in its fight to overturn these rulings, become involved in Operation Joshua, our petition drive to obtain one million signatures of protest to this situation. For more information contact: The Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, P.O. Box 417, Wynnewood, PA Education Education in Israel EDUCATION IN ISRAEL Submitted by the United Jewish Federation Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Amitai Rotem, Shaliach (messenger) from Israel This article explains the education system and also the increased importance of sports in Israel. A special quote from Proverbs 23:12 is "Apply your heart unto instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge." Challenges The integration of Jews, both individually and as groups, coming together in their ancestral homeland from all parts of the world, has been a long and continuous process, touching all aspects of life. Common factors of religion, spiritual heritage, national-historical memories, the Hebrew language and the yearning for national redemption in the Land of Israel formed a base on which to build a new society. However, during the centuries of their dispersion in different countries, the Jews acquired patterns of living generated by their environment - Eastern or Western - creating basic differences among the various Jewish communities in education, culture and lifestyle. Since the prevailing cultural and social environment in Israel in the 1940's was, and for many decades had been, Western-oriented, the tendency in the early years of the state was to try to absorb newcomers with their various backgrounds into the existing pattern. In time, it was increasingly felt that the attempt to dilute these different lifestyles was essentially self-destructive, and would deprive Israeli society of much that could strengthen and enrich its national life. As a result, continuing efforts are being made to encourage each group to preserve and develop its own cultural heritage to enhance the society as a whole. The ongoing search for roots, as a general phenomenon in Israeli society, is reflecting an improved self-image in many sectors, and an increased sense of personal and communal worth. At the same time, it pinpoints one of the major dilemmas of the Jewish state: how to become unified, modern and progressive while maintaining cultural heterogeneity. It is a problem of identity, not only for the state as a whole, but for each individual citizen as well. Today, although over half of the Jewish population is Israel-born, some disparities resulting from differences in educational and cultural background, as well as modes of thinking, still pose a challenge, since they tend to be the cause of social and economic inadequacies. At government level, a variety of programmes has been initiated aimed at counteracting these problems, especially in the areas of employment, social services, health, housing and education. Bridging Differences The concept of education is a basic element of Jewish tradition and is accorded priority in Israel's social outlook. Among the first laws to be passed by the Government of Israel was the Compulsory Education Law (1949), providing for free, compulsory education of all children aged 5-14. Since 1978, school attendance has been mandatory to age 16 and free to age 18. Besides providing knowledge and being a way of transmitting basic values, education in Israel serves as a primary means for advancing social integration and bridging social-educational gaps among individuals from various backgrounds and cultural traditions. Israel's policy for addressing this educational challenge has undergone three main phases. Between 1948 and the end of the 1950's, during which time Israel's school population increased fivefold, enormous efforts were made to provide uniform education for all in the belief that existing educational discrepancies would be overcome in the course of a few years. When, by the early 1960's, it became evident that standardized education alone was not enough to bridge the gaps, a variety of special projects was initiated to provide equal educational opportunities with the aim of social integration. These were augmented in the 1970's by various programmes designed to meet individual needs: extra-curricular activities to upgrade educational standards and improve learning habits; expanded preschool facilities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods to provide every child with the same head start; and community outreach projects aimed at involving adults in the educational process, as well as in the schooling of their children. In the 1980's, over 60 out of every 100 pupils, who began school in first grade, complete high school, as compared with only 32 percent at the end of the 1960's. Structure The state education system is comprised of one year each of nursery school and kindergarten, six years of elementary school and three years each of junior high and high school. Israel has one of the highest rates of preschool attendance in the world with 88 percent of all three-year olds and 97 percent of all four-year olds attending some form of preschool programme. In recent years, a growing emphasis has been placed on technological studies within the school system to meet the challenge of the electronic and computer era. The number of vocational schools has been increased, and their curricula expanded to include both a wider range of sophisticated technical courses and purely academic subjects. In the mid 1980's about 55 percent of all high school students are studying concentrated technical-vocational curricula, as compared with only 30 percent ten years ago. At high school level, students have the following options: *Academic track, leading to matriculation and university admission. *Technological-vocational track, leading to various technicians' certificates with or without matriculation. *Agricultural schools, usually residential; matriculation optional. *Military preparatory schools, combining general studies with military subjects. Some schools designed to prepare future career personnel; others to provide skills required by various IDF branches. *Yeshiva, religious academy for boys, with curriculum of intensive study of Bible, Talmud and other Jewish sources combined with secular studies. In recognition of the special characteristics of Israel's major communities - Jewish, Arab and Druze - which differ in language, history and culture, two school systems are maintained; the Jewish system, with instruction in Hebrew, and the Arab/Druze system, with instruction in Arabic. Both systems are financed by and accountable to the Ministry of Education and Culture, but enjoy a large measure of internal independence. Jewish School System Since a fully functioning independent network of Jewish schools already existed when Israel was re-established in 1948, the National Education Law (1953) was enacted to provide for the transfer of responsibility for education from the former sponsoring institutions to the government. However, the philosophy on which these earlier schools were based has been retained: values of Jewish culture and tradition, the achievements of science, love of country, respect for agricultural labour and manual trades, as well as the aspiration to a society built on liberty, equality, mutual aid and tolerance. The Jewish education system consists of state schools, state-religious schools and government-recognized independent religious schools. The state and state-religious schools offer similar academic curricula, with the latter placing special emphasis on Jewish studies, tradition and observance. State schools are co-educational, while in the state-religious school network children may either attend mixed or separate schools. The independent schools, affiliated with various Orthodox Jewish trends, offer more intensive religious instruction and provide separate premises for girls and boys. In recent years, some schools have been established within the education system which reflect specific trends, such as liberal Judaism and principles of open education. In the mid-1980's, about 75 percent of the Jewish school-age population attend state schools, some 20 percent study at state-religious schools, with the rest enrolled in independent religious schools. Arab/Druze School System The Arab/Druze education system, with separate schools for Arab and Druze pupils, provides the standard academic and vocational curricula, adapted to emphasize Arab or Druze culture and history. Religious instruction in Islam or Christianity is provided by Arab schools, while in Druze schools it is the prerogative of the community elders. Due to the Compulsory Education Law and changes in traditional Arab/Druze attitudes towards formal education, there has been a substantial increase in general school attendance, particularly at the high school level, and in the number of girl pupils, including those remaining through the upper grades. In 1948 only 21 percent of Arab girls attended any type of school framework, in 1973 the number had risen to 46 percent, and since 1983 virtually all girls aged 6-16 attend school. Vocational training in Arab/Druze schools has been expanded, with a variety of subject options geared to practical requirements and the needs of their communities. Increasingly, courses are designed to attract girls to professions and trades which are becoming acceptable in Arab/Druze society as appropriate employment for women. Extra-curricular programmes are encouraged, as is parent involvement in school activities. After 1967, the Druze residents of the Golan Heights requested the introduction of the Israeli Druze curriculum into their schools. Today, an Israeli matriculation certificate is a university entrance requirement for Druze students from the Golan wishing to study in Syria. Towards the end of the 1960's, a project was initiated to provide small classes for Bedouin children within their tribal encampments in the Negev. As centralized schools became established in the area, the Ministry of Education and Culture began, in 1971, posting Arab college graduates, preferably Bedouin, to teach there. Today, education for Bedouin youngsters is available through a network of primary and secondary schools, as well as kindergarten classes. While the number of Bedouin girls in the elementary schools is rising, continuing efforts are being made to encourage their attendance in high school. Higher Education Post-secondary education in Israel is under the authority of the Council for Higher Education, headed by the Minister of Education and Culture. Members of the Council, which includes academics as well as community representatives and at least one student, are appointed by the president, on recommendation of the government, for five-year terms. The council's main concerns are the establishment, recognition and licensing of institutions of higher learning. By law, Israel's universities enjoy full academic and administrative freedom, including faculty appointments, student admissions, formulation of curricula and conduct of research programmes. In addition to the universities, there are numerous other institutes of higher education which specialize in such fields as fine arts, music, graphic design, teaching, nursing, advanced technology, agriculture, fashion design and the like. Adult Education Education for adults is available in a variety of frameworks. Programmes range from classes providing instruction in basic educational skills and vocational courses to community colleges offering diploma-level programmes. The Open University (est. 1976) offers courses for credit, by correspondence and via radio and television. In the mid-1980's nearly 40,000 adults are engaged in some form of supplementary educational activity. Sports Sports have become increasingly important in Israel in recent years. While physical education classes in schools introduce youngsters to the rudiments of sportsmanship, sports clubs for teenagers, sponsored by the country's various sports organizations, are the training ground for Israel's future athletes. Sports facilities and equipment for the population as a whole are provided by the municipalities, regional and local authorities, as well as at private centres. Mass sporting events are very popular. Thousands of Israelis and visitors from abroad take part in annual functions such as the Jerusalem March, the swim across Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and various marathon runs and walks in different parts of the country. Football (soccer), basketball, swimming, tennis, volleyball, track and field sports, gymnastics, sailing, weight lifting and fencing are among the most popular sports, with horseback riding, snorkeling, wind surfing and hang gliding rapidly gaining enthusiasts. League football (soccer), basketball and volleyball teams, organized at local, regional and national levels, play a full schedule of games before crowds of loyal fans, with championship events engendering countrywide excitement. Tennis tournaments and swimming meets also draw many spectators. Israel's major sports organizations are Maccabi (est. 1912), Betar (est. 1924), Hapoel (est. 1926) and Elizur (est. 1939). Jewish athletes from all over the world compete in the Maccabiah Games, known as the "Jewish Olympics," held in Israel every four years since 1932. Hapoel stages its own international competition, with the same regularity. Israel belongs to the Asian Games Federation and to Asian associations, except for basketball and volleyball, where the link is with Europe. Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team established its place in the sporting world by twice winning the European Cup championship, in 1977 and 198l. Individual players and teams also take part in various international competitions. Israel sent its first team of athletes to the Olympic Games in 1952 and has participated regularly since then, with the exception of the 1980 Moscow Games. Tragedy struck Israel's team at the 1972 Munich Games, when 11 of its sportsmen were murdered by PLO terrorists. The Sports Authority of the Ministry of Education and Culture assists in developing sports facilities and programmes, sponsors training of instructors and coaches at the Wingate Institute of Physical Education and at teacher training institutions, and coordinates the activities of various sports federations and organizations. Proceeds from the national lottery help to develop sports programmes and facilities and provide annual prizes for outstanding sports achievements. Testimony Testimony - Becoming a New Christian by Dan King BECOMING A NEW CHRISTIAN By Dan King Denver, Colorado I didn't see the source of the problem, but I knew it was making him mad. His eyes turned red, his skin turned green, and he began to grow taller. His muscles began to bulge, and as he flexed his biceps, his shirt was ripped to pieces. Growling, he clinched his fists then grabbed the shredded garb around his shoulders and cast it to the ground. He looked entirely different from how he had appeared only moments ago. Bill Bixby's anger had transformed him into something incredible, something superhuman, something horrible. He had become the incredible Hulk, as he did every Sunday night at 8:00 P.M. I stared at the television set and began to cry. Immediately, my mother's attention shifted from the program and settled onto me. "Why are you crying?" she asked. "Are you afraid?" I wasn't crying because I was afraid. I was fourteen years old and well past being frightened by things on television. I couldn't believe my mother had suggested such a reason. "Why are you crying?" she repeated. "Are you upset about the show?" I wasn't crying because I was upset about what was happening in the story. I had seen this episode before, and I knew how the plot would resolve itself. I really hadn't been paying attention to the television at all. "What is the matter?" My mother continued to search for the reason behind my sudden release of tears. "Is something bothering you?" I wasn't crying because the show had triggered a painful memory. Although I had had many unpleasant childhood experiences, the incredible Hulk was not invoking any traumatic mental images. I didn't know why I was crying. At least, I couldn't put it into words for my mom. But inside my spirit, I did know why: my heart was breaking. Pinning down exactly when my heart started to break would be a difficult job. However, for three weeks preceding the experience that I have been describing, the events in my life had been leading toward a climax. Some events were bizarre, and others were probably just a part of growing up. As I have mentioned earlier, my childhood was not always happy. In the fourteen years since my birth, my mother had been married three times. My biological father, now deceased, was an alcoholic. My first step-father brought home his mistress one day to meet my mother, and that dissolved the second marriage. My second and current step-father is also an alcoholic. I have only been physically abused twice, but emotional abuse has contributed to feelings of despair and loneliness. Also during those fourteen years, we had moved at least eight or nine times. I was afraid to make friends, and I never seemed to fit in with other children my own age. Being overweight, I was usually the brunt of many cruel jokes and teasings. I was always the last person chosen when dividing up for teams, and then only because I was necessary to make the teams even in number. The result of these factors was that I often felt isolated and unwanted. And although my feelings were less than ideal, they were not uncommon for a child from a dysfunctional family. However, for me these feelings had intensified, and I was considering suicide as an alternative to living with horrible memories and disabling emotions. In the midst of this gloomy outlook on life, I had discovered a book on witchcraft in my mother's closet. I perused the book from cover to cover, considering that a possible solution to my problem might lie in the spiritual realm. I began to learn incantations. I performed a simple prosperity spell that claimed to bring money to those who cast it. I needed the money to purchase candles, silks, cards, and other tools to work the craft. I decided that I would put off my thoughts of suicide until after I had explored the potentials of sorcery and bewitchment. Throughout this entire time, while I was considering the new options before me, I was also attending a Baptist church, which was only half a block down and across the street. I went every time the doors were opened, not because I especially liked church, but because it was an excuse to get out of the house. I decided I would rather listen to the preacher carry on for over an hour about religious stuff than sit at home and listen to my parents carry on for over an hour in a quarrel. On Sundays, there were both morning and evening services at the church. I had already been to the morning service and had been rescued from two hours of home life. At 6:00 P.M. I headed back to the church for another two hours of escape. Afterwards, I planned to rush home and watch The Incredible Hulk, my Sunday evening ritual. And when the service ended at 8:00 P.M., I would have hurried home as usual, but something peculiar happened. I think there is a rule somewhere that Baptist preachers must shake everyone's hand before they leave or else suffer punishment. At least, that is the impression I've received from every Baptist church I've been to. This practice is usually accomplished by the preacher first choosing an older man in the congregation to pray. While every head is bowed and every eye is closed the preacher strides down the aisle to the rear of the church. From this single exit, the preacher can personally greet members as they leave and they can tell him what a good sermon they heard. This Sunday evening was different. Instead of choosing an older man in the congregation, the preacher said, "Brother King, will you please close us in prayer?" and before waiting for a reply he started toward the door. At first, I panicked. Then I decided that I could do this. After all, I had heard the other men pray. Certainly I could too. I would just throw together a prayer that contained all of the things I had heard. "Dear Heavenly Father, we thankest thee that thou hast blessed us this evening with Thy beatitudinous mercies and glory streaming from Thy radiance and Holy majestic reverent glorious being of which we have received. We thank Thee for Thy servant who has given us Thy word and Thy multitudinous insight into Thy wonder and revelation Thee and Thou and therefore." And then, as I had heard the others pray before, I added, "And O God, If there be a soul here tonight that knoweth not Thee, we pray Thou wouldest draw that soul unto Thyself this night. In the name of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, we pray, Amen." With that "Amen," my heart broke. I knew that I was in trouble. I ran to the back of the church, quickly shook the preacher's hand as he complimented my prayer, and darted across the street. My eyes became fountains as I realized that Jesus Christ had died for me, but still I was unyielding. I refused to embrace the reality that Jesus wanted me, that he loved me. As I looked up into the night sky, I was surprised to see Jesus, on a cross. He was suffering for my sake. (Please understand that Jesus did not literally appear to me, but in my thoughts he was real.) I asked him why he allowed Himself to be crucified. "Because I love you," was His reply. I wanted to know what to do about my parents if I chose to believe. "I will take care of your fears," was His response. "Well, what about my friends?" I questioned next. "I will take care of those fears as well," was His gentle but certain reply. Our conversation continued for twenty minutes. I would raise an objection; he would provide a solution. Yet, I would not give in. There was still too much to risk. I would wait until next Sunday, maybe. By then I would have more time to have thought it over. Yes, this solution would appease my heart until later. I dried my tears, patted my cheeks to get the blood circulating again, and went inside my house. Once inside, I went to the kitchen for a glass of ice water, before joining my parents who were watching The Incredible Hulk. I exchanged pleasantries with them and found a seat on the couch. Just then, the frail patch I had used to bind up my heart broke. Once again, I began to cry uncontrollably. After failing to discover the reason behind my tears, my mom decided to go to the church and get the preacher. He was just locking up and was glad that Mom had caught him. After having a short conversation with me at home, he decided we should go back to the church. As we walked, I told him of the struggle in my heart. I wanted to believe in Jesus. I wanted to trust in Him. I wanted to receive His love. But I didn't know how. We went to the altar and the preacher opened his Bible to Romans 3. He explained to me that the problem was sin, quoting verse 23, " . . . for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." I realized that I was a sinner and had fallen short. Then, he turned to Romans 6:23 and read, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus." I realized that I deserved death, unless I received the gift of eternal life. "Would you like to know how to receive the gift?" he asked. "Yes, I do!" I replied earnestly. With that, he turned to Romans 10:9 and read, " ... if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." And with that, he helped me to pray a prayer to Jesus, confessing him as Lord. My life has never been the same since. As He had promised, Jesus worked out with me each of the fears that had held me back initially. Then, we began to tackle other fears together: my fear of rejection, of being alone, of being unwanted, of being hurt. One by one, each one was conquered. He has also healed painful memories. I still remember them, but they don't hurt anymore. And although life has not always treated me kindly since that Sunday evening when I was fourteen, I have had a friend who sticks by me closer than a brother. As each day passes, I become more like Him. I am convinced that God should be a friend to every individual. For many, the introduction starts similar to my experience. In John 12:32, Jesus states, "And I, if I am lifted up from the Earth, will draw all peoples unto myself." "Lifted up" refers to His death on the cross. If we can see Him lifted up on that cross, suffering in our place, paying the penalty for our sin, then He can draw us to Himself. That is where the relationship begins. The transformation that follows is not from a man into a huge, green, incredible Hulk, but from a sinner into a friend of God. Praise and Prayer Praise and Prayer The Praise and Prayer Column is our international prayer link. Send your request or praise report to MORNING STAR for publication in the next issue! PRAISE REPORTS: Jack in California is gaining strength and balance more and more each day and will be walking on braces soon. Praise the Lord! Sandy in California is doing well after her accident and is making plans for her wedding. Norma's mom in Florida has a bad heart, but is better now and hopes to leave the hospital soon. Rachel from Texas is recuperating very quickly from the 3rd degree internal burns she received. Geoff in California praises the Lord for helping him through a funeral and in meeting the needs of the family. He thanks the Lord for continued increase in his counseling ministry. Walt's aunt from Texas is fine ... no heart attack ... and is back home again. Steve from New Hampshire thanks the Lord for answered prayers. Mae in Florida praises the Lord that after 8 years of prescription drugs she is 100 percent drug free now, and needs only physical therapy. The Booth's in Texas praise the Lord for the restoration of their marriage. PRAYER REQUESTS: Mac's young daughter Sarah in Michigan has brain tumor cancer and is starting chemotherapy. Pray for Becky and her husband for comfort and strength to go through some rough times. Pray for Dan from Texas who needs medical attention for polyps. Amy from Alabama is still in need of a satisfying job. Dominic from California needs a job. Pray for Harry in Indiana who has a degree in Chemistry and needs the Lord to open doors for a job. Pray for salvation for Sandy's future husband in California. Geoff from California for strength and wisdom when those sensitive problem situations arise in his counseling ministry. Steve from New Hampshire needs a job and asks the Lord's guidance. Pray for Janet in New Hampshire who is having back problems. Dick from Virginia who has Alzheimer's ... and his wife for strength and protection. Dan from Alabama needs prayer for forgiveness of those who persecute him at work. Dana from Pennsylvania who has developed a seizure problem and was in a bad car accident. Pray for the Messiah '92 conference being held June 27, 1992 to July 4, l992. Pray for Tony in Alabama who wants to get back into church. Ed of Florida needs a job and wants a good Christian woman in his life. Pray for all the children who were subjected to the HIV virus in the Uncle Ed case. Connie from Alabama needs the Lord's strength. Her leg will be amputated due to cancer. Remember Toby from New Hampshire who is having trouble with his back. Pray for Gar from Virginia who asks the Lord to help him complete his dissertation and help him with his health problems. Bill from Maryland asks for prayer for alliances to talk to each other and work together to solve problems. Continue praying for Rachel from Texas who had 3rd degree internal burns. Continue to pray for God's will in Jack's life in California, as he works through the therapy. Michael from Virginia asks for prayer concerning the welfare of his family, who depend solely on his provision. Alan from Virginia is praying for discernment concerning a change to a new ministerial position. Pray for the underground church in North Africa and isolated believers without a church. Pray for all unsaved people in the world and especially for Bill's dad, Fealoues, in Virginia. Pray for our brother Jim, from Florida, who has had back surgery and is facing another operation. Pray for the people in the earthquake in Eastern Turkey. Pray for President Bush and the leaders of the U.S.A. Pray for Jackie in Florida, that she will pass her commercial driver's license test. Ed from Florida needs a job in television broadcasting. Harold, a policeman from Texas, has cancer and pneumonia. He is in the VA Hospital in Houston and needs prayer. Rick and Pat from New Hampshire for salvation. Pray for Ken from New Jersey and his 7 month old child, named Kayla, with Spina Bifida. Debby's ex-boyfriend won't accept her marrying someone else. Pray that he won't be hurt or despondent. Deborah of Maryland has two bad discs in her lower back. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6) CFI Reports CFI Reports CFI REPORTS is our monthly column dedicated to the ministries of CHRISITAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL in Jerusalem. Our October issue of MORNING STAR (Volume 1.1) presented a summary of the various CFI ministries and explained the foundational principles and objectives of CFI. In this issue, we provide information on FORSAKE THEM NOT, a CFI ministry dedicated to helping survivors of the holocaust. ------------------------ FORSAKE THEM NOT In Israel the Jewish people have different programs for caring for the elderly, the orphans and widows. However, many older survivors of the Holocaust need help. They have endured suffering during their lifetimes from incredibly cruel hatred for no other reason except that they were Jewish. COMPASSION PUTS LOVE INTO ACTION Are you moved deeply when you become aware of tragedy such as the Holocaust? Do you hurt for others? If you are, then you can help. Sometimes one can only pray. But others can give financially. If you really feel compassion for those who hurt and have suffered, you will want to do something as a Christian friend of the Jewish people. It may cost you, but in a small way you can help heal the hurt. AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEMONSTRATE OUR CONCERN ... There are many Holocaust survivors in the Jerusalem area. Many still have physical and emotional problems from their experiences in concentration camps. A large number live modestly with only an old age pension to cover their living expenses. Help from various places remains inadequate and reparations have been less over the past few years. Through the Organization of Former Nazi Prisoners, we as Christian friends of Israel are able to be a channel of giving to many survivors. Will you help us to let them know that they have Christian friends around the world who care and desire to help? An impact will never be made unless they know your concern. Many of the survivors are now old and alone in their last years and they really need to know who cares. God cares about His People and wants us to also care. May it not be said that because of our self-absorbed lives or unconcerned attitudes that a survivor feels "forsaken". We believe we can draw from the Father's endless treasure and bountiful goodness to us; to give without gain, to care without counting the cost, and help to comfort His ancient covenant people. (Isaiah 40:1). WHAT YOU CAN DO AS A CHRISTIAN, TO PERSONALLY BE INVOLVED IN BLESSING A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR(S): (1) Send a check in any amount to Christian Friends of Israel designating it for "Holocaust Survivors." (2) Pray for these precious people that they would be healed from their wounds and scars of the past. (3) Pray for Israel that she will "never again" have to go through another Holocaust. LET THIS BE OUR PRAYER AS CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL: Lord, help me to feel the hurt that survivors feel Because the world inflicted its bitter pain; And use us in some loving way to heal The wounds that still remain. If you desire more information on how to help the ministry of FORSAKE THEM NOT, write to MORNING STAR at our Post Office box, or contact CFI directly at: Christian Friends of Israel Jerusalem Coordinating Office P.O. Box 1813 Jerusalem 91015, ISRAEL Telephone: 972-2-384-406 Music Column Music Column The following hymns were written by Joel Chernoff of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is with the Internationally known music group "Lamb." These songs were all inspired from scripture, as are most of Lamb's songs. In the first hymn, Jerusalem is correctly spelled Yerushalyim, because there is no "J" in the Hebrew language. These songs are written in Hebrew and the translation in English. It is wonderful learning them in both languages. IT IS HE (BONAY Y'RUSHALYIM) Bonay Yerushalyim Adonai, Nid-Chai Yisrael Y'Cha-Nais, Bonay Yerushalyim Adonai, Nid-Chai Yisrael Y'Cha-Nais, Nid'Chai Yisrael Y'Cha-Nais. It is He who numbers the stars, It is He who healeth the broken in heart, It is He who binds up our wounds, Great and mighty is He. It is He who grants us the rain, Waters the fields and gives us the grass And the grain, Even when the young raven cries, Great and mighty is He. Lift up the Lord Jerusalem, Praise your God O Zion for He has strengthened the bars of your gates, And blessed your sons forever. V'NEEGLAH V'Ra-oo Kol Ba-sar Yach-Dav Kee-pee Adonai, Adonai Kee-pee Adonai Di-Bair V'neeglah K'vod Adonai V'neeglah K'vod Adonai V'Ra-oo Kol Basar Yach-Dav V'Ra-oo Kol Basar Yach-Dav Kee-pee Adonai Kee-pee Adonai Di-Bair Every valley shall be exalted Every mountain and hill be made low For the crooked way shall be made straight And the rough places plain And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed All flesh shall see it together For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it Has spoken it HA-TEESH-KACH Ha-teesh-kach ees-hah oo-lah Mai-ra-chaim ben beet-nah gam Ailah teesh-kach-nah Vah-no-chee lo esch-kah-chaich Hain al kah-pa-yeem Chah-ko-teech Cho-mo-ta-yeech No-ge-dee tah-meed Can a woman forget her nursing child Or fail to have compassion upon him? She may forget, but know it or not, Israel you are always before me... Behold I have engraved my people On the palms of my hands Your walls are always before me, Israel How can I forget? Thus saith the Lord, if the sun that lights the day, Or the moon and stars that light the evening sky... If these laws I forget or before me no more be, Only then will I forget you, Israel... Chef's Corner Chef's Corner The recipes this month came from the Israeli, Ethiopian, and Russian Jews and are traditional to each of the groups. The first segment of recipes is Israeli. Chalah is a delicious bread served Friday evening, at the dinner beginning the Shabbat (Sabbath). CHALAH 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. sugar 2 Tbsp. vegetable shortening 2 c. hot water 2 small cakes yeast or 2 env. dry yeast 1/4 c. lukewarm water 2 eggs 8 c. flour Add salt, sugar and shortening to hot water, stir to dissolve. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, then add to cooled first mixture. Add eggs, well beaten, and stir in the flour, 1/2 at a time. Blend well, then knead steadily for 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl until tripled in bulk. Knead and let rise again. Divide dough in half. Cut each half into 3 and roll these to about 1 1/2 inches thick. Braid and let rise again on pan which has been greased. Brush with egg and sprinkle sesame seeds.. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour. CHICKEN SOUP 1 fowl (4 to 5 lb.) 3 qt. cold water 1 carrot, sliced 2 stalks celery 2 sprigs parsley 1 small bay leaf 1 Tbsp. salt 1/4 pepper Cut fowl into pieces. Place in kettle with cold water. Cover and bring slowly to a boil. Add seasonings and vegetables. Simmer gently about 3 hours. Strain. Chill and remove fat. Strain again. Chicken Noodle Soup: Heat 4 cups of chicken soup in top of double boiler. Add 1 1/2 cups noodles and cook until noodles are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve 6. Chicken Rice Soup: Follow same procedure as for Chicken Noodle Soup, adding 1 cup rice instead of noodles. Cook until rice is fluffy, about 40 minutes. ISRAELI STUFFED CHICKEN 1 Tbsp. oil 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 chicken liver, chopped 4 mushrooms, finely chopped 3 Tbsp. chopped toasted almonds 1 small apple, grated 1 tbsp. chopped parsley 1 tsp. salt, divided 1/4 tsp. pepper, divided 1/2 tsp. paprika, divided 1 tsp. prepared mustard 1 egg, separated 1 broiler - fryer chicken 1 slice white bread water juice of 1 orange In large skillet, heat oil, add onion and cook until tender. Add chicken liver and brown. Add mushrooms and almonds, simmer 5 minutes. Soak bread in small amount of water. Press water out of bread and add to chicken liver mixture. Add apple, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, mustard and egg yolk; mix well. Beat egg white and add to mixture. Rub chicken inside and out with orange. Stuff chicken with mixture. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon paprika over chicken. Place in roasting pan. Pour orange juice over all. Cover with foil and bake in 375 degree oven 1 hour and 15 minutes. MATZO LASAGNA 8 pieces matzo 2 c. cottage cheese 8 oz. American cheese, grated 1 1/2 qt. canned tomato sauce 8 oz. Muenster cheese, grated scallions, green part only, sliced Place matzo in a deep pan. Add enough cold water just to cover the matzo. Allow to soak a few minutes. Drain excess water immediately. Using a 9 x 13-inch pan, pour some sauce on bottom. Place 2 matzos on top of sauce, carefully so as not to break them. Then spread cottage cheese, grated cheeses, scallions and more sauce over matzo. Alternate these layers, ending with matzo, and cover with remaining tomato sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to set for 20 minutes. JEWISH APPLE CAKE 2 c. sugar 1/4 c. orange juice 1 c. cooking oil 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla 4 eggs 1 c. chopped nuts 3 c. sifted flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt FILLING: 2 c. very thinly sliced apples 3 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon Beat together at high speed for 10 minutes the eggs, sugar, oil, juice and vanilla. Blend in the dry ingredients, which have been sifted together, a little at a time. Fold in nuts. Put 1/3 of the batter into a well greased Bundt pan. Arrange 1 cup of the sliced apples on top; sprinkle with 1/2 the sugar and cinnamon. Add another 1/3 of the batter and the remainder of the apples, sugar and cinnamon as before. Cover with the last 1/3 of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Sprinkle generously with confectioners sugar while still warm. The following are traditional recipes in the kitchens of Ethiopian Jews who have brought them to Israel in recent years. SPICED CHICKEN WINGS 2 1/2 kilos chicken wings, cleaned well and with tips trimmed 6 medium onions, chopped 1 1/2 cup soy sauce 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. each cinnamon, ground cloves, white pepper 3-4 thin slices of fresh ginger, chopped or 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1. Put the chicken wings in a large pot filled with lightly-salted water. When the water comes to a boil, add the onions and let boil for 15 minutes. 2. In a separate saucepan, heat the soy sauce and seasonings, but do not allow to boil. 3. Drain the chicken wings and transfer to the saucepan with the soy sauce mixture. Cook over a low flame for 15 minutes. 4. Remove the chicken from the soy mixture and let the sauce drain off. Place the wings in a baking dish and bake in a medium oven until the wings are browned and crisp (about 1/2 hour). Serve hot. LAMB SOUP 1 1/2 lbs. (675 grams) stewing lamb, cut into 2" cubes 2 zucchini squash 2 medium tomatoes 3 tbsp. olive oil 6 spring onions, coarsely chopped 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped 1/2 tsp. each black pepper, salt and turmeric 1/2 tsp. caraway seed pinch of saffron Place all the ingredients in a heavy kettle and stir together gently. Add 6 cups of boiling water or stock and cook, covered, over a low flame until the meat is tender (about 2 hours), skimming occasionally. After the meat is tender, remove and discard the tomatoes. Serve hot, dividing the meat and vegetables equally. MINTED RICE 6 tbs. butter 1 large onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp. each ground cloves, cardamom and cinnamon 1 1/2 cups rice, uncooked 1 cup seedless raisins 1 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped 1 cup fresh coriander leaves 1/2 tsp. ground ginger pinch of saffron 3 tbsp. lemon juice 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts (pignoles), toasted or plain In a large saucepan heat the butter and saute the onion and garlic until the onion is golden brown. Stir in the cloves. cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and rice. Continue to saute for several minutes. Add the raisins, mint, coriander, ginger and saffron, stirring well. Add 3 1/2 cups of water, lemon juice and salt and bring to a boil. Stir with a fork just once and lower the flame. Cover and cook about 20 minutes over a low flame until the liquids are absorbed. Remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork, garnish with the nuts and serve hot. GREEN BEANS AND PEANUTS 3 tbs. olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 3/4 cup unsalted, skinned peanuts 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped 1 1/2 lbs. (675 gr.) green beans 1 large green pepper, chopped 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper In a skillet heat the oil and saute the onions, nuts and garlic until the onions are translucent. Add the beans, green pepper, salt and black pepper. Continue to saute until the beans are tender. Serve hot. PRUNES WITH ALMONDS AND RAISINS 1 lb. (450 gr.) soft prunes, pitted 2 cups dry red wine 1/2 cup sugar 2 oz. (50 gr.) each peeled, chopped almonds and seedless raisins 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 3 whole cloves In a saucepan mix the prunes, almonds, raisins, cloves, wine, cinnamon and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring regularly. Reduce the flame and continue cooking and stirring until the mixture thickens. Remove the cloves and transfer the ingredients to a medium-sized dessert dish. Place the dish in the center of the table with small dessert spoons so that each guest may help himself. Serve hot, ideally with mint tea or strong Turkish coffee. Following are traditional Russian Jews recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. CABBAGE BORSCHT 1 head cabbage 1 bunch beets 1 tsp. salt 1 onion 1 can tomatoes 1 lb. flanken or brisket 1 lemon 2 tsp. cream of tartar sugar to taste Combine all ingredients, add about 8 cups of water; cook until meat is done. Before serving, beat 3 eggs with tablespoon of water; add to soup. CHERRY BORSCHT 1 c. water 1 can sour pitted cherries 3 Tbsp. sugar 1 pinch salt 1/2 pt. thick sour cream Pour cherries (juice and all) into pot. Add 1 glass of water, the sugar and salt; bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes. Cool. When cool, stir in sour cream. Potpourri Potpourri URGENT NEED Where there is hurt, Jesus brings healing; Where there is sin, Jesus brings pardon; Where there is unfaithfulness, Jesus brings loyalty. Where there is loneliness, Jesus brings comfort; Where there is separation, Jesus brings togetherness; Where there is fighting, Jesus brings peace. Where there is despair, Jesus brings hope; Where there is death, Jesus brings life; Where there is sorrow, Jesus brings joy. GOD'S LOVE When Jesus gave His life for me, Enduring all the agony Upon the cross of Calvary, He showed the love of God. Love is not God's name; it's His nature. God is love - But love is not God. The best way to conquer an enemy is with the weapon of love. Because we are children of the Heavenly Father, We can show His love to the fatherless. At the heart of all conflict is a selfish heart. What you see in the Bible depends on what you're looking for. He is not alone who is alone with Jesus. Treasures of earth can keep us from laying up treasures in heaven. To hear God's voice, turn down the world's volume. God sends us trials not to impair us, but to improve us. To escape sin's curse, come under the cross. The more we learn, the more we realize how much we need to learn. Even when we cannot sleep, God can give us rest. Some people spend most of their life at the complaint counter. What God promises God provides. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, How some people must love church! When your cup overflows, share it - Don't waste it. God never stops giving us reasons to praise Him. When the Christian keeps His mind on Christ, He develops a wonderful calmplex. Fervent prayer dispels anxious care. Prejudice is a lazy person's substitute for thinking. The best way to conquer an enemy is with the weapon of love. You don't need to know where you're going if God is leading. Gratitude to God generates generosity. Hold lightly to the things of earth But tightly to the things of Heaven. Resource Department NewsDesk Morning Star NewsDesk MORNING STAR NEWSDESK - MAY 1992 BLESSING THOSE WHO BLESS THEE ... The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, spearhead of the Christian Zionist support for the State of Israel, has been awarded the Knesset Speaker's Award, the first time a Christian institution in Israel has received the civic prize. (JERUSALEM POST) UN REBUKE OVERLOOKS DETAILS The United Nations Security Council rebuked Israel after a clash at a Gaza Strip refugee camp left four dead and over 50 wounded. The Council passed a unanimous non-binding decision criticizing Israel only for the situation in Rafiah. The UN statement failed to mention the fact that the incident occurred after a hand grenade was thrown from a car at an Israeli Defense troops and that the driver ran over three people in an attempt to avoid capture. (JERUSALEM POST) WHITE HOUSE DENIES RUMORS Israeli and American Jewish sources say they privately believe Germany has postponed guaranteeing Israel a promised $2.5 billion in loans following pressure from the Bush administration. The White House denied reports that in addition to refusing Israel loan guarantees itself, it has actively lobbied European Community countries, especially Germany, against granting Israel credits until Israel slows or freezes settlements in the territories. (JERUSALEM POST) POSSIBLE WHITE HOUSE DEALS WITH ARABS Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said he is convinced President George Bush promised Arab leaders - in advance of US-Israel negotiations - that he would not provide Jerusalem with loan guarantees for the absorption of Soviet immigrants unless Israel completely froze Jewish settlements in the territories. In an interview with the JERUSALEM POST, Shamir said he believes Bush did not want to reach a negotiated compromise on the guarantees. "There was nothing to talk about, because the administration wasn't at all interested," Shamir said. "No doubt about it, there was some kind of promise" to the Arabs, Shamir said. "The Arabs say so." (JERUSALEM POST) MOSCOW SYNAGOGUE BOMBED The synagogue and Moscow headquarters of the Lubavitcher Hassidic movement was firebombed, causing serious damage but no injuries. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack on the group, which is waging a court battle to regain 12,000 religious books confiscated shorted after the 1917 Revolution. (JERUSALEM POST) GERMANY PLANS TO DESTROY JEWISH CEMETERY A delegation of rabbis, Holocaust survivors and former residents of Hamburg Germany met the German ambassador to protest plans to build a shopping center on the site of a Jewish cemetery in Hamburg. Haifa Chief Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen, whose great grandfather is buried in the 300-year old cemetery, told Ambassador Otto von der Gablentz that there is no justification for the destruction. Cohen said there is a growing impression here that a united Germany is becoming less concerned about Jewish feelings. The graveyard in question, the Ottensen Cemetery, contains about 4,000 graves, some of which date back to the 17th century. (JERUSALEM POST) EMPTY CONTAINERS Three more nuclear warheads - these designed for strategic missiles - reportedly have disappeared from a storage facility inside the former Soviet Union. The new loss was revealed during a recent briefing in Ukraine for members of the International Security Council, a Washington-based conservative think tank. U.S. intelligence sources reported in March that three tactical nuclear weapons were missing from an arsenal in Kazakhstan in Central Asia. (U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT 4/20/92) ISLAMIC ATOM BOMB THREAT Iraq and Algeria are planning the first Islamic nuclear bomb, according to Western intelligence sources quoted in London's SUNDAY TIMES this week. The paper says that Saddam Hussein has already sent nuclear material and scientists to Algria. The TIMES reported that Hussein successfully smuggled more than ten tons of natural uranium past the allied military blockade at Algeria via Jordan before the first UN nuclear inspection teams arrived last May. Details of the shipment first emerged from intercepted telephone conversations between senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad. (THE JEWISH PRESS) Ministry Information Ministry Information The MINISTRY INFORMATION area is for the benefit of all believers. MORNING STAR does not charge for these advertisements. AMMI MINISTRY P.O. Box 27576 Philadelphia PA. 19118 (215) 843-7964 BILL RUDGE MINISTRIES (An international outreach challenging believers to reach their maximum potential in Christ.) 220 North Buhl Farm Drive Hermitage, Pennsylvania 16148-1718 (412) 983-1223 CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST INTERNATIONAL 30012 Ivy Glenn Dr., Suite 200 Laguna Niguel CA 92677 Tel. 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BOX 62970 Colorado Springs CO 80962-2970 (719) 488-9200 INTERNATIONAL PRISON MINISTRY P.O. BOX 63 Dallas TX 75221 THE JESUS FILM PROJECT Arrowhead Springs 2700 Little Mountain Dr. San Bernardino CA 92424-9989 JESUS PEOPLE USA 4707 N. Malden Chicago, IL 60640 Editorial office: (312) 989-2080 (An excellent resource for tips and techniques on witnessing and ministering to specific groups of people.) JEWISH VOICE BROADCASTS INC. P.O. Box 6 Phoenix, Arizona 85001 (Publishers of "Jewish Voice Prophetic Magazine". (Annual cost $20, published monthly) Producers of JEWISH VOICE television program seen on cable networks CBN, LBN, and PTL as well as many network stations.) JEWS FOR JESUS 60 Haight St. San Francisco CA. 94102-5895 (Publishers of "The Jews for Jesus Newsletter" - no charge) Canadian Office: P.O. Box 487, Station Z Toronto, ON M5N2Z6 JOHN ANKERBERG MINISTRY P.O. Box 8977 Chattanooga, TN 37441 LEDERER MESSIANIC MINISTRIES 6204 Park Heights Ave. Baltimore MD 21215 (Publishers of the "Jewish New Testament" by David Stern) MESSIANIC JEWISH ALLIANCE OF AMERICA (MJAA) P.O. Box 417 Wynnewood, PA 19096 (215) 896-5812 (Serving American Messianic Jewry since 1915. A main resource for ministering and witnessing to Jewish people everywhere. Call for more information.) MOMS IN TOUCH INTERNATIONAL (Calling moms to pray for our public schools) P.O. Box 1120 Poway, CA 92074-1120 (619) 486-4065 PARDONED MINISTRIES (Ministry to jails and prisons) P.O. BOX 50746-433 Phoenix AZ 85076 POINT MAN INTERNATIONAL (Christian outreach for veterans by veterans) 820 Wayne St. Washington PA 15301 (412) 228-5081 PRISON FELLOWSHIP P.O. BOX 17500 Washington DC 20041-0500 (703) 478-0100 RESOURCES FOR CHRISTIAN COUNSELLING Word DMS - P.O. Box 10853 Des Moines IA 50336-0853 SEPHER MINISTRIES (A church-based counseling/discipleship ministry) C/O Foothill Bible Church P. O. Box 236 Lincoln, CA 95648 American OnLine contact: Pastor1 TEEN CHALLENGE TRAINING CENTER INC. P.O. Box 98 Rehrersburg, PA 19550 (717) 933-4181 WHOLE COUNSEL MINISTRIES INC. 6113 River Road Matoaca, VA 23803-8047 America Online contact: Listener1 CompuServe contact: 76476,1556 WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS P.O. Box 2727 Huntington Beach, CA 92647 phone: (714) 969-4600 FAX: (714) 969-4661 ZOLA LEVITT MINISTRIES INC. P.O. Box 12268 Dallas Texas 75225 (Publishers of the "Levitt Letter" (no charge) Producers of "Zola Levitt Presents" television show) Mailing Address Morning Star Mailing Address MORNING STAR is produced and published monthly, by a staff of born again believers in Jesus, located across the United States of America. Correspondence to MORNING STAR may be sent via the U.S. Postal Service or one of several computer networks. POSTAL ADDRESS: P.O. Box 7755 Nashua, NH 03060-7755 ELECTRONIC MAIL LINKS: America Online E-Mail (DOS Files): MStarDOS America Online E-Mail (MAC Files): MStarMAC GENIE Network E-Mail: M.Wilkinson1 COMPUSERVE Network E-Mail: 70254,1576 DELPHI Network E-Mail: Derr1ck (Note on Delphi name: It is a number "1" between the "r" and "c")