Types of Rapture - Moriel Ministries
Transcription
Types of Rapture - Moriel Ministries
"MORIEL" GOD IS MY TEACHER June 2008 Nissan/Iyar/Sivan 5768 No. 34 TYPES OF THE RAPTURE by Jacob Prasch MORIEL MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL David Royle TABLE OF CONTENTS Types of Rapture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Leaving the Elementary Teachings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Todd Bentley, The New Simon Magus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Todd Bentley, Meet the New Thing, Same As The Old Thing . . . . . . . . . 18 Pertinent Factoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 A Bad Week, A Mad Week, A Sad Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 A Jewish American Hero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Nessim’s Muse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 CJFM Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Connecting the Dots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Comforting Those Who Mourn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Rambling Rose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Moriel Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 You Can’t Preach The Bible Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 The Bezalee Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Moriel South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Your Letters & Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Jacob’s Itinerary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Thank You from the Administrator From the Office of the Administrator "MORIEL" GOD IS MY TEACHER T his month we introduce to you, Danny Isom, and Walk With the Word Bible Studies and Web site. Danny is a good brother and is working to redo the Moriel Web site. He is a self-confessed geek and has in the past worked with Mission Aviation Project of Jim Elliot fame. His Web site is www.walkwiththeword.org. On the Web site you will find many Bible studies along with help in learning how to study the Bible. The goal of his Web site is to help people apply God’s Word to their lives so that the changes in their lives will become apparent, not only in the believers’ hearts, but in the eyes of those around them. Welcome, Danny, and thanks for all your help. A couple of articles are included on Todd Bentley, one of the newest false prophets to pop up and be pushed to the forefront. His teachings include trips to Heaven, angels and more angels, fire falling, “soaking,” and every other experience that has happened since the “Toronto Blessing.” Only what is worse than before under the previous outbreaks, he is going after the youth and is advocating violence against people to impart this spiritual experience, including kicking people in the face, body slamming people, leg dropping a pastor, and every other wicked thing. Please get informed and warn others. Jacob is coming in August. Please check our Web site for where he will be speaking. At the time we went to print, we did not have all the dates set. We hope to see you all at the various churches. Please pray for Jacob as he goes around the world. It is getting harder for him to take these long periods of separation from his wife, Pavia. But both Pavia and Jacob know the Lord has asked him to do this traveling and teaching, and to sacrifice time together for the sake of the Gospel. May the Lord bless them both. In Peace, David June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Jacob Prasch Feature Article TYPES OF THE RAPTURE There are people today denying there will be a rapture, or catching up, to be with the Lord Jesus. We will look at some of the reasons why they are saying this. But more important, we must understand the things in the Word of God that teach us about it and what it will be like. In order to do this we have to employ certain hermeneutical devices – ways of looking at Scripture. We begin with the basic things the Bible says, but then we look at the things which typify or illustrate them: the other raptures in the Bible that have already taken place, the things that teach about our resurrection. In Scripture we use the term “rapture,” which is simply a Latinized form of the Greek term “caught up.” The Greek term episynagògò, “gathering,” with Him, is where we get the word “synagogue.”We don’t make a distinction between the resurrection and the rapture. They are the same event. Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He {began} asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some {say} John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal {this} to you, but My Father who is in heaven. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. (Matthew 16:13-18NAS) This occurs at a place called Caesarea Philippi. Most people will tell you the transfiguration of Jesus took place on Mount Tabor because that is basically what the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church decided, By Jacob Prasch but it didn’t. We have to understand the transfiguration and how it teaches about the rapture in light of Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi is important for two reasons: First, it was a center of idolatry. Today, you can still see the carvings of the Greek god Pan on the face of a cliff where there are still the remains of his temple. Pan was said to appear in human form – a “god” pretending to be a man. Second, it was also a place where there stood a statue of Caesar Augustus, the first of the Roman emperors to be worshipped as a god in his lifetime. Emperor worship is one of the main things in the Bible that teach about the anti-Christ. He will reign over the known world. When Jesus came the first time, the emperors numbered people’s heads. Why? They numbered the people’s heads to gain financial control of the world, and to maintain control. When Jesus was born, the census that took place at the behest of an emperor was, in a sense, a form of worship; it was a type or a shadow of what the anti-Christ will do just before Jesus comes the second time. His first coming teaches us many things about His return. There were many false prophets and false messiahs before He came the first time, and there will be false prophets and false messiahs before He comes again. But this element of emperor worship will be replayed before Jesus comes back. The prophet Daniel tells us that the fourth beast in his vision comes into play again. We will see some kind of a reconsideration of the countries that were in the Roman Empire and ultimately, through this system, the anti-Christ will appear. But here in Caesarea Philippi, we see the center of Greco/Roman false religion – a “god” who pretends to be a man, and the worship of a man who pretends to be a god. The latter is the emperor – a political figure. Jesus challenged the gods of this world on their own turf. He came to Caesarea Philippi, a place in Israel today that we call “Banias.” He, not Caesar, is the King who will be worshipped. As for Pan, he was no god at all. Jesus, of course, is God, and He is truly man. He is both fully human and fully divine. So this contrast was taking place. With that background in view, understand this: Banias is an area in Israel-occupied Golan Heights where there is a waterfall. This waterfall comes out of the slope of Mount Hermon. We call it in Hebrew, Har Hermon. It’s the tallest mountain in Israel today, and towers above the Golan Heights in the area where Israel, Lebanon and Syria all converge. Its cap is snow-covered about eight months of the year. Let us look now at Matthew 17:1-9: And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” And when the disciples heard {this,} they fell on their faces and were much afraid. And Jesus came to {them} and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus Himself alone. And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” Then Jesus begins talking about June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Feature Article – Continued Elijah and John the Baptist. Notice how this connects the resurrection with the transfiguration. Jesus commanded His disciples not to tell anyone about the transfiguration until His resurrection. Why? Elijah and Moses are the two prophets of Israel most associated with the Messiah in the New Testament and also in Jewish thought. Moses was a man who died faithful to God. Jesus was God who became a man. Elijah was someone who never died but was raptured, or caught up to Heaven alive. So there stood the Lord Jesus with someone who was raptured and never died, and someone who died. They all looked exactly the same. They were all transfigured. We shall be as He is. It doesn’t matter if we are raptured or if we die faithful to God, we shall meet Him in the air. This was on Mount Hermon, a white-covered mountain most of the year. Where do we meet Him? In the sky, above the gods of this world. Do you understand the typology? Now there is more. When we read the Apocrypha, we get the background to what the Epistle of Jude tells us in the NEW TESTAMENT about the nephilim, or rapha, the giant offspring of fallen angels joined with women. These fallen angels were “demonoids” who came down and procreated with human women. It is said that they came down at this very mountain. So you have the conflict between Jesus and the political powers of the world, the Hellenistic religions of the world which are demonic. It all happens in the same geographical location. In midrash (the Jewish way of interpreting Scripture), where things happen in the same geographical location it is an indication that there is a theological and a spiritual relationship between those events, even though there might not appear to be. For instance, Elisha, Elijah, and John the Baptist all had the same spirit, or anointing. Where did Elisha take the mantle of authority from Elijah? On the plain of Jericho, the same place where John the Baptist was baptizing. And they had the same spirit. You will frequently find this same confluence of events in Scripture. We have to look at what else happened in a given location to understand the full dimension of its spiritual and theological significance. One who died in Christ or, as it were, was faithful to God under the Law of Moses, somebody who was raptured, and the Lord Himself, all looked the same. Moses wanted to enter the Promised Land but he was unable to for a variety of reasons. One reason is because Moses represented the Law. It was Joshua who could bring the people into the Promised Land. Jesus’ name in Hebrew, YESHUA, is simply the June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly way they said Joshua (Y’HOSHUAH) after the captivity. Joshua becomes a picture of Jesus while Moses in this sense becomes the picture of the Law. The Law cannot lead us into Heaven; only Jesus can. Hence Moses could not enter the Promised Land. But once the Messiah comes again, he will. God told Moses he couldn’t go in, but then God does eventually answer Moses’ prayer. He will walk in the land, but only when the Messiah comes. Now, that is a pretty good basis but let us begin considering further. Let’s look at some of the people who were raptured and some who were resurrected. Let us look at the Book of Genesis: When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. (Genesis 5:3NAS) Man is made in God’s image and likeness. God is creative and He makes us procreative so that our offspring come in our own image and likeness. We read further: And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had {other} sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. And Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had {other} sons and daughters. So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died. (Gen 5:21-27NAS) The first person to be raptured was Enoch. Every rapture and every resurrection teaches something about ours. Let’s look at 2 Kings 2:11-12: Then it came about as they were going along and talking, that behold, {there appeared} a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. And Elisha saw {it} and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. (NAS) Elijah was raptured. Some people believe that it is Elijah and Enoch who will come back as the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3. Others believe that it is Moses and Elijah because they were the ones transfigured. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 12:1-4: Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows – was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. (NAS) If you were to translate “caught up” in verse 1 from the Latin Vulgate you would have the same Latin word from where we get “rapture.” The context of these verses pretty well tells us it is Paul himself who had this rapture experience. He was caught up and he then was sent back. If it is literally to be Elijah who comes back as one of the two witnesses that would be the Old Testament precedent. But of course it begins with Jesus. He came down from Heaven. He is always prolific. He is sent and He comes back again. What happens to Jesus begins to happen to His disciples. It’s prolific. He is the first of a kind. Our experience of ascending and coming back teaches something about His. Let me go back to our first text. Peter wanted to build three booths. Why did he want to build three booths, three tabernacles? The Feast of Tabernacles was the last Jewish feast of the year. Jews commemorate God’s provision for their ancestors in the wilderness during their exodus, but it is also the thanksgiving for the autumn harvest. We see it in a millennial context in Ezek. 47. In John Chapter 7 it is being celebrated when Jesus talks about living water. They would take water from the pool of Shiloach and pour it out on the Temple Mount. Why these booths and why do the Jews associate it with the Millennium? Look at Zechariah 12: 10: And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they Feature Article Continued will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born. (NAS) The Jews are back in Israel. Jerusalem becomes the point of controversy for all the nations. This chapter tells us, “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the people round about.” Today in Israel even left-wing Jews are willing to talk about land for peace. They will talk about Judea, Samaria. They will talk about a Palestinian state in Gaza. They will talk about negotiating over the Golan Heights. But when you touch Jerusalem, you are touching the heart of a Jew. Jerusalem will be the center of world conflict when Jesus comes. It is where Satan received his biggest defeat and where he will receive his final defeat. I can’t go into it now, but don’t let anyone tell you that these current events you see in the Middle East are not of prophetic significance. Those who would do so are deceived, and they are trying to deceive others. According to scriptural prophecy, the Jews are back in Israel for the Great Tribulation – for a terrible deception – when the anti-Christ will come and appear to be the Messiah. None the less, let us look. The Jews see Jesus come in Zechariah 12:10. Then it reveals what happens when He comes: And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. (Zechariah 14:4 NAS) There is a cleft in the Mount of Olives where the High Priest had to stand on the Day of Atonement and look through the East Gate into the Holy of Holies. It is through this cleft that Jesus would have come on Palm Sunday from Bethany and Bethsaida across the Kidron Valley. There is a fault that runs through the cleft of the Mount of Olives. The last time there was an earthquake was 1927. So there is a seismological fissure there already. An earthquake is not only likely, but where there is that kind of fissure, it is inevitable. Zecharia continues: Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that which- ever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no {rain will fall} on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. (Zechariah 14:16-19 NAS) When Jesus was transfigured, there was Moses back from the dead; there was Elijah, who was raptured, on the earth with the Messiah. Peter said in effect, “Let’s have the Millennium; let’s build the booths.” They understood the Feast of Booths was about the Millennial Kingdom, the establishment of the Messiah’s reign. Each of the Jewish holidays in their sequence teaches something about Jesus. He fulfils the spring holidays like Passover; He is the Lamb who was slain. He is the First Fruits. He is the Resurrection. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit given is His first coming. He fulfils the autumn holidays in His second coming. Here we are addressing the Feast of Booths and the Feast of First Fruits because they teach about the rapture. Do you understand how these feasts teach about the future? But Jesus instructed them not to tell anybody about this encounter with Moses and Elijah until after He is raised from the dead. They didn’t understand that he had to die for their sins first. It’s in His second coming that He will set up His Millennial Kingdom. His first coming was in order to deal with sin. His resurrection is like our resurrection, and His ascension is like our ascension. In Acts, chapter 1 we are told of Jesus’ascension: And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them, and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11 NAS) In Daniel 7:13 the Son of Man comes down to the earth. In Zechariah 12:10 and Ezekiel 43:1 – it is all prophesied – He goes up, He comes back. Elijah went up, then came back. Moses came back. Paul went up; Paul came back (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). Whenever people come back, they are always identifiable. Peter, James, and John had never seen Moses and Elijah before, yet they knew who they were when they saw them with Jesus. When we go to be with Jesus, we will know Him and be known by Him. You’ll know who Isaiah is; Isaiah will know who you are. You will know who Elijah is; Elijah will know you. The minute he sees you, he’ll know who you are and you will know who he is, without any introduction. In resurrection, in rapture, it doesn’t matter; we know and we are known, because of Jesus. Because we are known to Jesus and known by Jesus, we likewise are known by those and known to those who know Him. They immediately knew who Moses was and who Elijah was because they knew who Jesus was. Let’s look at the terrible sin of King Saul where Samuel came back when Saul sought his counsel through the witch of Endor (1Samuel 28): Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.” And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up out of the earth.” And he said to her, “What is his form?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and did homage. (1 Samuel 28:11-14 NAS) Notice she calls him “a divine being.” The KJV says “gods.” The Hebrew word is elohiym, used of God, angels, judges, and others with authority, as well as false gods. We shall be as He is. We will all have authority in the Kingdom as priests, but Jesus is the High Priest. We are all kings, but He is the King of kings. He will always have pre-eminence as the firstborn of the resurrection. Be careful of charismatic Kingdom Now theology that springs from the Latter-Rain Movement. It does not teach that we will be as He is, but that we are as He is. You are a god, according to Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, among others. This is Gnosticism, not June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Feature Article – Continued biblical truth. Yes, we shall be as He is, but not yet. We’re being changed from glory to glory, and our change to immortality will come when we are resurrected or raptured to meet the Lord in the air. Kingdom Now theology teaches that man is a god and, by “faith,” can speak reality into being the way that God did. This is absolutely heretical. RESURRECTION We have looked at some people who have been raptured, and they teach us certain things about our rapture. Now let’s look at resurrections because people who are resurrected teach about our resurrection. When we go under the water of baptism we die with Christ. His death is ours and His resurrection is ours. It’s prolific and it’s the same event, only chronologically it happened to Him first. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 15: But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man {came} death, by a man also {came} the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 NAS) It is prolific – the same event, but He is first in the order. Then will come the end when He will deliver up the Kingdom to God the Father when He has abolished all rule, authority and power of man and Satan. This again points to the millennial reign. He must put His rule in place of the rule of man and then turn it over to the Father. He must reign until he has put all enemies under His feet. Now let us understand what this is telling us. The Kidron Valley lies between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. The Jewish Feast of First Fruits is the first Sunday after Passover. We call this week the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Precisely at sunrise, the Cohen Hagadol – the High Priest – would go into the Kidron Valley between the Mount of Olives and the Temple and ceremonially harvest the first bit of grain (the first fruit) coming out of the earth. He would then bring it into the Temple. All four gospels tell us that Jesus rose at about dawn don’t they? The rising of the SUN is always a metaphor for the rising of the SON, even in the OLD TESTAMENT. “Rise and shine for Your Light has come” always alludes to the resurrection, but all four Gospels say that He rose around dawn when it was still dark – when the sun had risen June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly around that time. The very hour when the High Priest had gone into the Kidron Valley to bring the first fruit into the Temple, Jesus was the First Fruit of the resurrection. Understand, the very hour he was doing it Christ was rising from the dead. Now let’s continue: Otherwise what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? (1 Corinthians 15:29) The Mormon practice of baptizing for the dead is based upon this verse. But I mention this to explain that Paul was referring to a pagan practice, not a Christian one. Even the Greeks had a sense of afterlife. Don’t let the Mormons tell you that baptism for the dead is a Christian practice; it isn’t. Paul was simply saying that even the pagans knew that there was an afterlife. You had pagan rituals of baptism as well as Jewish. The Jewish ritual was called mikvah, but the pagans had their own baptism rituals. Now, what are we to be like? Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak {this} to your shame. But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; (1 Corinthians 15:34-36 NAS) When we consider the last days and the return of Christ and the resurrection, we should be sober and not drunk. But we also should be inclined to holiness. Now here you have, the Greek aphron, which is different from the word moros, equivalent to the Hebrew rach. Here it is translated “fool,” but it is not the kind of fool Jesus warns against calling our brethren. The Bible says “call no man a fool” because “the fool says in his heart there is no God.” But this is a different word for fool; it is not that word. Let us continue: …and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. (1 Corinthians 15:37 NAS) As we consult the Gospel of John we understand how Paul is explaining to the Corinthians what Jesus meant: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. “He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.” (John 12:24-25 NAS) You have the shell of the seed; inside is the germ where the DNA resides. When you plant a seed in the earth, the outer shell undergoes a biological process of catabolism and dies. The seed inside turns into something completely different; it is a new creation. Something dies and something is born. In order for something to be born, something must die. So it is with us – the old creation and the new creation. Our physical bodies die so that something can happen metabolically and we become a new creation. However, it is the same seed. It is not a spiritual resurrection. A physical biological process happens in our resurrection. This shell dies but what comes out of it is literal and physical. It is a literal, physical resurrection. We have to understand that salvation is past, present and future. I’ve been saved, I’m being saved, I’m going to be saved. I’ve been saved. When Jesus died on the cross, I died with Him by faith. He took my sin and gave me His righteousness. I died with Him. I am a new creation and I rose up with Him as a new creation. I’ve been saved. Past, justified. I’ve been saved, I’ve been justified. Even through I am corrupt, He gave me His righteousness and took my sin. Therefore, I am justified. I’ve been save. I’m being saved. This is sanctification. Take up your cross daily. I am being crucified with Him every day and resurrected every day. “He who endures to the end, shall be saved.” “Lift up your head, your redemption draweth nigh.” You are being sanctified; you are being saved. You’re going to be saved. You shall be resurrected to eternal life in the body. He is going to come back and pick up the package He paid for. In each case, the natural creation must fall to the earth and die so the new creation can come out. It happened when you were first saved. When you were first saved, by faith your old nature died with Jesus, but every day we are supposed to put to death the will of the flesh. This is sanctification – being made holy to God. Someday, unless Jesus comes first, you are going to be planted in the earth. But what comes out of the earth is going to be very different from what goes in. How different is wheat from the seed? How different is a flower from the seedling you planted in your garden? Very different isn’t it? So, too, your resurrected body is going to be quite different from what is put in the ground. What teaches us about this? The Feature Article – Continued resurrection is prolific. Look at Jesus’ body. He could walk through walls! You see people today like the Kansas City “prophets” who say we are going to walk through walls before He comes. That’s not only unbiblical, it’s crazy. God can do what He wants, and I can conceive how God can make something like that possible in a given instance if it suits His will. But it is not for all of us until the resurrection. What happened to Jesus’ body is going to happen to ours. His body went into the earth and came out totally different. He could disguise Himself and people whom He knew didn’t know it was He until He chose to reveal Himself to them. Our body will be something like that. What Jesus was like after His resurrection teaches us about what we are going to be like after ours. A glorified body with what we today consider “superhuman” capability and that does not grow old – totally different what comes out of the earth to what you put into it. Totally different, but it is the same body. Be careful again of the lies of groups like the Moonies and the Jehovahs’ Witnesses who spiritualize the resurrection. What did Jesus do when He rose? He manifested His identity to His followers at Emmaus in the breaking of bread. He ate with the disciples in Jerusalem. He physically ate. Let us look at what happened when He raised Lazarus from the dead. Every time you see somebody raised from the dead in the Bible, it teaches something about our resurrection. What does Lazarus do in John 11 when Jesus raises him? He comes out of the tomb. “Unbind him and let him go,” Jesus said. So they made Him a supper there and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him! Lazarus physically ate. When Jesus wakes the little girl from death, what does He say? “Give her something to eat.” Whenever you find the resurrection, Jesus always said give them something to eat. Those He raised from the dead went on to eat. Why? Because eating was a way to illustrate, among other things, that it was a literal, physical resurrection. He Himself ate after His resurrection, so all the others ate when he raised them up. He ate to show that His resurrection was absolutely literal. This is what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 15. If it was not a literal resurrection of His body, then those who witnessed of it were stupid people. If it is not a literal actual resurrection – if our physical bodies are not going to be resurrected into something better than they are now – we may as well laugh, get drunk, have a good time with the world because that’s all there is. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the NEW TESTAMENT actually teaches we should live wicked lives because that is all there is. BUT HE IS RISEN, and you are going to rise. When you witness to an unsaved person and he gets saved, that in itself teaches something about the resurrection. Remember, you’re dead and resurrected already by faith aren’t you? You have been justified. Look at John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (NAS) In other words, when somebody is born again, their resurrection has already begun. We are already living our eternal life. Our resurrection has already begun; it is prolific. His resurrection is ours. It is something already underway; we have already passed from death to life. So Jesus tells the people, “Roll away the stone.” When you witness to an unsaved person, all you are doing is rolling away the stone. You are making it possible for the dead to hear the voice of Christ. We can witness, witness, and witness, but until they hear His voice and not ours, they are not going to be saved. We can speak it; we can roll away the stone. We can put it in one’s ear, but there is the distance from the ear to the heart. All we can do when we evangelize is roll away the stone. Then He says, “Lazarus, come forth.” This connects with what you read in John 10: “My sheep will hear My voice.” Only the Son of Man can call that which is dead to life. He saves them. Then, when one comes to life he comes out of the tomb; you unbind him and let him go. When people are saved they come bound, emotionally and spiritually. They need baptism, they need counselling sometimes, and they need discipleship. You unbind them. We can roll away the stone, only Jesus can call them from death to life and then we unbind them. The resurrection and the rapture will simply be the completion of the process. We’ll truly hear His voice even more clearly than we hear it now. We shall see Him as He is, but then we shall be totally unbound. Whenever somebody gets saved, that in itself teaches something about the rapture and resurrection. Our rapture and our resurrection has already begun. Now things get a bit more complicated. Jesus was put into the earth and came out of it. We were in the earth (dead in sin) and came out of it totally different (born again). But now let us begin understanding the things that teach about the rapture. Let’s begin with the first incident of the rapture in the Bible excluding Enoch’s personal rapture; the first collective or corporate rapture. Until now, we’ve looked at things taught about personal rapture and resurrection. Now let us look at the things that teach about the corporate or collective: For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:37-39 NAS) In his Epistle, Peter also says the last days will be like the days of Noah – the same as Jesus did. But he adds that just as Noah tried to warn people to repent and they didn’t listen till it was too late, so will people in the last days. The faithful believers will be warning people to repent, but they won’t listen until it is too late – that’s what Peter says. He talks about people doing things that are evil. However, Jesus doesn’t talk about people who are doing things that are evil. He talks about people doing things that are natural: drinking, eating, and getting married. Peter’s message about the days of Noah is for the unsaved. Jesus’ words are a warning to us. There is nothing wrong with drinking or eating or getting married, but when the things which are temporal become central to our focus and become the things we are here for, we are in trouble. Believers begin hoping and trusting in their businesses, their marriages; these become more important to them than being with Jesus. These are things that are not wrong in themselves but become idols. One of the things which can become an idol in the last days relates to the warning, “Let he who is in the field not go back to get his cloak” (the mantle of authority). Ministry can become an idol. The work of the Lord can become more important than the Lord of the work. They call it ministry, but they are not building the Kingdom of God; they are building personal empires and putting God’s name on it. What’s the test? Jesus told the apostles, particularly Peter, “I’ll make you fishers of men.” Peter was fishing – another thing that teaches about the rapture and resurrection. Fishing is always a picture of evangelism. The apostles fished, and fished, and fished, but caught nothing until Jesus told them where to cast their nets. We can have an evangelistic program, an evangelistic crusade and missions program all we want, but until He directs our evangelism and tells us where to June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Feature Article – Continued cast our nets, we are not going to catch too many fish either. So Peter is fishing; he is doing what Jesus called him to do, midrashically, but as soon as the call comes up, “It is the Lord,” he puts on his garment and dives overboard. Jesus was more important than fishing. Understand, his ministry was not an idol. Why did he put on his garment? Because the garment represents the wedding garment – the garment of salvation (Isaiah 61:3). Normally, you would take off your shirt to dive into the water. Peter puts it on. This is a picture of the wedding garment. He immediately leaves the ministry as it were, his fishing, and dives overboard to be with Jesus. The work of the Lord was not more important than the Lord of the work. Now if ministry can become an idol, what can’t? Marriage, career, business. Are you willing to walk out the door the minute you hear the call, “It is the Lord”? If you look back, you will be like Lot’s wife. We need to tell unsaved people that the judgment of God is coming as in the days of Noah, but we ourselves need to learn that things are for here; they are not the things that we are here for. One morning I was talking to and praying with some Christians who have gone through some terrible things. There was a great-grandmother, a grandmother, and a little baby with cerebral palsy. The mother died in labor, the little baby girl, Rebekka (Rickah) is a spastic. The family is bereaved. Another woman with whom I spoke had an amputation of her leg; her daughter was killed. A lot of people are hurting like this. What do you tell these people? Now, first of all when we read the book of Job, we understand that people tend to blame God. But Satan’s temptation of Jesus reveals that the kingdoms of the earth have been given into Satan’s hand. (Matthew 4:8) This is true. Jesus never questioned Satan’s authority over the earth in its present condition. God gave dominion to man, and man gave it to Satan. Jesus will take it back when He comes again. The Lord of Glory will trample Satan under His feet when He comes back. That will happen. In the meantime, we live in a fallen world. Jesus never questioned Satan’s authority, asking, “How could God let this happen?” or “Why did God do this?” When you blame the God of the Bible you are blaming the wrong God. On the other hand, Satan can do only what God allows him to do. There are a number of reasons God lets these terrible things happen to Christians, one of which is that He doesn’t want us to trust in this fallen world. Laodicea is the back-sliding church with a lot of religion, blind to its true spiritual state because it is materially June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly well-off. It doesn’t know its real condition. But “those whom I love, I correct.” I have among my best friends a Jewish man in New York. His wife is Jewish and they are believers in Jesus. I baptized them. He is heir to a considerable amount of money, yet their daughter has cerebral palsy. They would give every cent to have their little daughter, Sarah, a teenager now, normal. Why? There are people who just have a good life in this world without a cross to bear, and they begin to trust in this life. God doesn’t want us to trust in this life. This world is under a sentence of death. No matter how affluent your business seems, you are buying stock in a bankrupt company. He doesn’t want us to trust it. The world uses people to get things; the world uses people to get money. God uses money to get people. God uses things to get people. The only good thing about money is that we can use it for God’s work. The rest of it doesn’t matter; it’s all going down the tubes. The hopelessness of this world is great. The days of Noah teach about the rapture and resurrection. Peter says the unsaved people won’t understand until it is too late, but Jesus is warning Christians not to trust in this world or they will not be ready for His coming. Now let us understand more about the days of Noah. I have a friend in New York who is an evangelist. He has done quite a study on the subject. Every time man sought to become God, and establish himself as divine and master of his own destiny, God has intervened to prevent sinful man from living eternally. Adam and Eve could not eat of the Tree of Life and thus live in sin forever. God intervened directly and prevented it. With the Tower of Babel when man tried to reach God and become gods, God intervened. Today, with Biogenetic engineering, super computers, and particle physics, we are approaching the same kind of things that happened in the Garden and with the Tower of Babel. Man thinks he can become his own god. It has even gotten into the Church. You have people like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland and Ray McCauley teaching that you don’t have God, you are a god. Ray McCauley teaches that building the Tower of Babel is God’s model for Christian unity. Now if that is in the so-called “Church,” what do you expect from the world? There is no problem with science and technology, per se, but there is a problem with fallen man. Science is neutral; it can be used for good or evil. But because man is evil – fallen – it is used more often than not for some ungodly purpose. We are reaching the point of that which happened at the Tower of Babel and in the Garden of Eden: man trying to become his own god. You get people like Paul (David) Yonggi Cho teaching that “you can speak it into being.” This is not biblical. It comes from shamanism and Buddhism. He admits that in his book, “The Fourth Dimension.” Buddhists and Hindus have believed this for centuries. Now Cho claims that Jesus has shown it to him. This is in his book. We are reaching a point where God will be personally forced to intervene to stop us from setting up our own kingdom. Again, be careful of Kingdom Now theology and Dominionism, it is a pack of lies. It is unbiblical on one extreme as is a bunker mentality on the other. Neither is balanced. But now let us understand this: Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of Man comes.” Well, what happened in the days of Noah? We read in the book of Genesis, chapter 7 that demonic beings came to earth and procreated with humans, creating demonoids – demonic monsters. When I was in University studying medical physiology and genetics, there were things that seemed like science fiction but today are biomedical reality. Cloning, taking recombinant DNA from one species, genetically engineering it to be injected into another, synthesizing enzymes. Proteins are very long molecules. Today, with super computers, they can find out the structural formula of a protein in practically no time. It says in Daniel that knowledge will increase. Biogenetic engineering, organic micro-chips, super computers that can analyze things with an integrated system the way the human brain works. These things are becoming reality. Again, I have no problem with science or technology. I have a science background myself. I am simply saying there is a problem with man. It is not difficult to understand the fallen ones who came down from the sky, demonoids on the earth. In the 1970’s the American president Jimmy Carter declassified something called the Blue Report. He didn’t declassify all of it, but some of it. It was research into extraterrestrial phenomena (UFO’s) done by the American government, the US Air Force, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). These documents claimed that there is no evidence of extraterrestrial life whatsoever. The American government was afraid the Soviets where developing space-type weapons using unidentified flying objects, using stealth technology. Already back in the 60’s the United States was beginning to work with stealth technology – bombers Feature Article – Continued and fighters that could not be traced by radar. The government was afraid the Soviets were ahead of them, so they began to investigate UFO’s to see if they were perhaps objects made by the Soviet Union. These things were declassified, some by President Jimmy Carter, and some later under the American Freedom of Information Act. These are US documents. They found American government psychologists talking to occult mediums who seemingly could conjure these things and make them appear. There are many documented cases of American jet fighters chasing these things. Yet there is no scientific evidence, only parapsychology with occult activity. The Bible does not say there are not beings on other planets. It doesn’t say there are, but it does say the cosmos needs to be cleansed. Look how many people believe there is life on other planets. During the period called “the enlightenment,” rationalism and science were divorced from the occult. Take for instance astrology and astronomy. The Greeks made no distinction between the two. With western rationalism what was genuinely scientific was separated from occult superstition. Astronomy became a science, astrology became occult. Medieval alchemists made no distinct between chemistry and witchcraft. The sciences of chemistry and pharmacology came out of alchemy; magic went one way, qualitative physics and chemistry went the other. Again we have the separation between the occult and the scientific. The same occurred with medicine. What had a genuine physiological basis comes out of the medieval healing arts. Today there is a reintegration of science and the occult. This is evident in most forms of holistic medicine. It is beginning to occur in particle physics. It is the remarriage of science and the occult. This is the same kind of thing that happened in the days of Noah. The Greek word for drugs or sorcery is pharmacopoeia – using drugs to obtain metaphysical and spiritual experiences. When I attending university in the U.S. we used to take LSD, but not just for kicks. We used to take it as a way to investigate the occult and to enter into the spiritual realm through pharmacopoeia – through drugs. People have genuine metaphysical experiences through the taking of mind-altering drugs. I was shocked when I got saved and learned that the Greek word for sorceries is the basis for the word “drugs”: pharmacopoeia. Make no mistake, with psychedelic drugs you enter the spiritual realm through a door other than Jesus. Talk to people saved out of LSD backgrounds and they will confirm this. Nonetheless, let’s look at what happened in the days of Noah. These beings came down from the sky, procreated with human women, and we are told in the Apocrypha it happened on Mount Hermon, where Jesus was transfigured. I am becoming more and more convinced that movies and television programs about extraterrestrials are setting up people with a deception. I am convinced that this remarriage of science and the occult with a strong probability of extraterrestrial activity will have something to do with that deception which will be as it was in the days of Noah. It seems like science fiction, but it isn’t. These demons were personified on the earth. You had demonoids; you had monsters. They actually existed. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be again. It is not farfetched. Suppose someone were to take the DNA of Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler and clone it – a mixture of science and the occult. It is easy to see the possibility of merging organic micro-chips and genetic cloning. It is not difficult to see how these deceptions will occur. What happened in the days of Noah: demons on the earth mating with women. Look at these people claiming UFO abductions. How many of these stories had some kind of sexual aspect to them. There is a reason for that. Uri Geller, the spoon-bender psychic medium, claims that people from outer space are trying to contact him. Some like him say they are looking for some kind of a messiah figure. This seems frightening, but it’s reality because people have strayed from a biblical premise for their beliefs. Unsaved people are being set up. So it was in the days of Noah. Those who got on the Ark, however, were saved, and it was only a small group of people. Noah’s Ark is the first major type of the Church in the Bible after Eve. She also typifies Israel and the Church, but the Ark is the first one after that. Even its dimensions give us a clue. It was 50 cubits x 30 cubits x 300 cubits. 300 Is the number of the elite, like Gideon’s Army. 50 Cubits is the number of the Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost, and 30 cubits is the number of spiritual maturity. Jesus began His public ministry when He was 30 years old; David began to reign as king when he was 30. It’s a type of the Church. “What I open, no man closes and what I close no man opens.” Just as in the days of Noah, that door is going to be closed. Only those on the Ark (Jesus) will be saved. The judgment is pictured in the flood. Everybody went through the water but only God’s people came out. That is why baptism is compared by Peter with the story of Noah. Everybody goes through the water; we all die, but only God’s people come out. Pharaoh’s army went through the water too, but they didn’t come out; only God’s people came out. Now let’s look at Exodus. Those judgments in the Book of Exodus are memorialized in the Passover Haggadah, the liturgy for Pesach Hoschech (darkness, etc.). Those judgments you read about in the Book of Exodus are replayed in the Book of Revelation. The way that Pharaoh’s magicians counterfeited the miracles of Moses and Aaron is the way the anti-Christ and false prophets will counterfeit the miracles of Jesus and His witnesses. Now at this point, I have to explain to you something about prophecy understood from a Jewish perspective as opposed to a western perspective. With our western minds, our grammatical, historical exegesis, we think of biblical prophecy, eschatological prophecy, Messianic prophecy, prophecy about the last days and the coming of the Messiah, as predictions fulfilment. That’s the western Hellenistic mind. The Bible, however, is not a western book; it is an eastern, Hebraic book. Most western cultural wisdom comes from Greco/Roman civilization. God’s people have to understand the Jewish concept of prophecy. In the time of Jesus, prophecy was not only prediction and fulfilment, but a pattern. Every Old Testament prophet prophesied for three time periods: for his own time, for the first coming of the Messiah, and for the second coming of the Messiah, sometimes all in the same breath. Now let’s begin with this idea of the exodus and the rapture. Abraham is the father of all who believe. He’s the archetype. During a famine he went into Egypt with his family. God’s judgment comes on Pharaoh, and Abraham (as Abram) comes out of Egypt with the wealth of Egypt. Pharaoh gives him donkeys and servants and gold, etc. What happens to him happens to his physical descendants the Hebrews. In a famine the sons of Jacob go into Egypt. They come out of Egypt, God judges Pharaoh and they take the wealth of Egypt with them. But they brought Joseph’s bones with them when they came out. So they have the wealth of Egypt and the bones of Joseph when these judgments happen. 1 Corinthians, Chapter 10: we come out of Egypt when we get saved. Egypt is a figure of the world; Pharaoh is a figure of Satan, the god of the world, also a type of the anti-Christ. Just as Moses went to a mountain and made a covenant with blood and sprinkled it on the people, so Jesus made a covenant June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Feature Article – Continued with blood and covers us. As Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt through the water into the Promised Land, Jesus leads us out of the world through baptism into Heaven. Jesus Himself comes out of Egypt (Matthew 2:15: “Out of Egypt, I called My Son.”). This is a quote of Hosea 11:1. With the western mind, it seems out of context. Hosea is speaking of the exodus of the Hebrews with Moses. But Matthew tells us it’s about Jesus. When Herod dies, “out of Egypt, I called My Son.” Once again, God judges a wicked king, and Jesus comes out of Egypt, the same as Abraham, the same as the sons of Jacob and their descendants. When you see verses like “Israel My Glory,” “Israel My Firstborn,” they’re a midrashic illustration or allusion to the Messiah. Jesus is the personification of Israel. He is the Seed of Abraham. So Abraham comes out and God judges the wicked king. Abraham’s descendants come out when God judges the wicked king; the Messiah comes out of Egypt when God judges the wicked king; and we come out of Egypt when God judges the wicked king of our sin nature. There is a pattern, but the ultimate coming out of Egypt is the rapture and the resurrection. Why did they bring the wealth of Egypt out with them? Why did Abraham get riches? Why did the sons of Jacob and their descendants bring the bones of Joseph with them out of Egypt? “The dead in Christ will rise first.” It’s a picture of the rapture and resurrection. Now let us understand further. In Luke’s version of the Olivet Discourse Jesus is talking about the last days: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. “Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. “Woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:20-24 NAS) The times of the Gentiles will come to an end and the Jews will be back in Jerusalem. Forget these people like Rick Godwin who are telling you to be against Israel. Do not listen to those who teach that 10 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly the Jews get nothing; the Jews have no right to be in the Land; aid to Israel is nothing but wasted money. Be careful of people like them, they are false teachers of the very kind Jesus warned would come in the last days to deceive the elect. He is a Kingdom Now proponent. These people believe there is no rapture. They say Matthew 24 and Luke 21 are not about the last days. They say these events totally happened in AD 70. Now let’s look at the big version of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew, chapters 24 and 25, once again about the days of Noah: “Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. “Two women {will be} grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:40-42 NAS) The false teachers say that Matthew 24 was totally fulfilled in AD 70. The problem with their position is that the Olivet Discourse is not found only in Matthew 24, it is also found in Matthew 25. Look at Matt. 25; it’s the same discourse. Did Jesus come to separate the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25? Did that happen in AD 70? Did He give people their eternal reward based on how they used their talents in AD 70? No. You see the absurdity of it. Prophecy is not merely a prediction and a fulfilment; it is a pattern. What happened in AD 70 partially fulfils what happens at the end when the Temple is destroyed, the Temple being a figure of the Church. What happened in AD 70 is a major type of the rapture. It was prophesied by the apostles, by Jesus, and by the prophet Daniel (chapter 9). You get Eusebius, you get Josephus in The Wars of the Jews, and you read how these prophecies were literally fulfilled in AD 70. The Temple was destroyed. When the apostle James was martyred, a cousin of Jesus became the senior pastor as it were of the assembly in Jerusalem. His name was Simeon. The believers remembered what Jesus said: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded, flee.” They fled from Jerusalem to the mountains, to a place called Pella (not Petra), and were saved. In Revelation when it says, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,” that is straight out of Isaiah and Jeremiah. So just before this, Rome burns under Nero. The early Christians identify Rome with Babylon. Peter writes his epistle from Rome, “She who is in Babylon, greets you.” The same mystery religions that began in Babylon found their way through Asia Minor, particularly the city of Pergamum, into Greco/Roman civilization, and Rome became identified with Babylon. Thinking of the early Christians, Peter writes, “She who is in Babylon, greets you.” The city on seven hills in Revelation is Rome: fallen “Babylon.” Nero comes along; he murders Peter and Paul; Rome burns; “Fallen is Babylon.” Mount Vesuvius erupts, volcanic ash goes into the atmosphere, all the way to the ionosphere, and the sun and the moon don’t give their light. Jerusalem is surrounded by an army of Gentiles, the Temple is destroyed. The believers in Jesus thought it was the rapture and that Jesus was coming, and they fled. They were not completely wrong; remember Hebrew prophecy is pattern. It was a partial fulfilment. Jesus didn’t come, but it still teaches about the ultimate fulfilment. The same as the exodus teaches about the rapture, the same as the salvation experience we have teaches something about the rapture and the resurrection, so, too, these events in AD 70 teach something about them. All that Jesus prophesied happened. They saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies; the East Gate of Jerusalem, known for the requirement of 24 people to open it, opened by itself. A comet in the shape of a sword appeared over the Temple Mount. These signs in the sky occurred. Now with that in view, let’s go back and look at Genesis, Chapters 18 and 19. You always find the same pattern. What was Abraham saying? “Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, wilt Thou destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy {it} if I find forty-five there.” And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do {it} on account of the forty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do {it} if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy {it} on account of the twenty.” Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy {it} on account of the ten.” (Genesis 18:28-32 NAS) Yet there could be found no one righteous but Lot. God says destruction comes; I am Feature Article – Continued going to rescue only those who are Mine. That teaches about the rapture. There’s a false teacher in America who teaches that people can be two-thirds right and still be considered true prophets. Before I believed in Jesus and immigrated to Israel, there was a witch in New Jersey who used to read my tarot cards. She was about three-quarters right. But this guy in America, Mike Bickle from Kansas City, teaches that a person can be wrong one-third of the time in his predictions and still be considered a true prophet of the living God. Deuteronomy, chapter 18 says that if you predict something in the name of the Lord that fails to happen you are a false prophet. Yet you’ve got these guys promoting false prophets like Rick Joyner. All these guys make predictions that don’t happen. They’re saying they are true prophets. The Bible says they are false prophets. Jesus warned they would come in the last days. When you see people predicting things that don’t happen, Jesus said look out for them. Witches can be right two-thirds of the time. Fortune-tellers can be right more than two-thirds of the time. God gave up on mankind in the days of Noah and He gave up on Sodom and Gomorrah. Now understand, when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, they thought it was the end of the world. They actually began having marital relations with members of their own family to begin the human race again, because they thought it was the end of the world. So what happens? God says enough is enough. Now the two angles came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the city’s gate. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold my lords, please turn aside unto your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet so that you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, however, “No but we shall spend the night in the square.” Yet he urged them strongly so they turned aside to him and entered his house and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread and they ate. Before they lied down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house – both young and old and all the people from every quarter – and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came with you tonight? Bring them out so that we may have relations with them (homosexual gang rape). But Lot went out of the doorway and shut the door behind him and said, “Please my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold I have two daughters who have not had relations with a man; please let me bring them out to you and do to them anything you like; only do nothing to these men inasmuch as they came under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and see, already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck the men who where at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great so they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway. (Genesis 19:1-11) There are two things which bear the symbol of Satan. There is a principle of opposites, one is the “black mass” found in a witch’s coven. They have the actual Catholic ritual in reverse. They hang crosses upside down and things like this. It was God’s design for human sexuality that man and wife would give and receive pleasure and procreate. Today, instead of giving and receiving pleasure in a heterosexual marriage relationship, the two largest phenomena growing are sadomasochism and homosexuality. So instead of giving and receiving pleasure, it becomes giving and receiving pain; instead of heterosexual relationships, it becomes homosexual relationships. This happened in the days of Sodom and it is happening again today – homosexuals on the rampage. God’s judgment will come because of this. It will absolutely come. They are teaching children in schools that homosexuality is normative. In San Francisco, they teach six-year old children to read books like Heather Has Two Mommies. It’s the state curriculum. This, as well as abortion, is going to bring God’s judgment. When you see things like abortion, divorce, homosexuality, etc., this is Satan attempting to destroy God’s original purpose for man, to reproduce His image and likeness. The idea of God making us in His image and likeness has become something perverted, and it’s going to get worse. Ultimately, what you see with the rise of homosexuality is that it’s going to bring us back to a Sodom scenario, when God will personally intervene. Lot was a weak believer. He represents what the Church and most Christians are going to be like when Jesus comes. The Church is generally not going to be in good shape when Jesus comes. Will the Son of Man find faith on earth? He’ll find the faithful remnant but they will be saved by the skin of their teeth. Lot lived in a wicked place. He was not party to the wickedness himself. In fact, he was vexed by the wickedness, but he was not willing to leave until forced to do so. Obviously, he was not like Abraham. Abraham represents Jesus in His High Priestly role by pleading for Sodom. But then the judgment comes. Notice what they said about Lot: “You are like an alien and you are trying to judge us.” Christians are going to be like aliens before Jesus comes. We overly identify with our culture and our civilization. And our civilization is largely identified with us, particularly in the Protestant world, where there is so much biblical influence in our models of economy, government and culture. Our Christianized society has deluded us. Hostility against God’s people will rise in the last days when they consider us to be aliens, which is exactly what we are supposed to be anyway. Persecution may come from the devil, but God will have a purpose in it. He always has. Now, what else happened at Sodom? The angels struck blind the men who were at the doorway, yet they still tried to find the doorway. Amazing, men would not repent. Then the [angels] said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring {them} out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. (Gen 19:1214 NAS) Notice these were the believers. Some believers understand that God’s judgment is real; other so-called believers say, “Oh, you are crazy; God’s going to take us out of here before the place is wiped out.” God gave us these Scriptures so that we and our families would be prepared for His return, and would not be deceived in the last days. Yet false teachers in the churches say these Scriptures are not about the last days. You’ve got people like Gerald Coats teaching there is no rapture – that the rapture is a fantasy and a myth. These people teach that passages like Matthew 24 are not about the last days. If it were possible even the very elect would be deceived. Satan already has the world deceived, he is trying to deceive us. There are basically three classes of people in the Bible: Jews, Gentiles, and believers who could be either Jew or GenJune 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 11 Feature Article – Continued tile. Satan has the nations; the Hebrew word for “nations” and “Gentiles” is the same word: goyim. The nations are already deceived. The Jews will be deceived by the anti-Christ to think he is the Messiah in the time of Jacob’s trouble. That leaves us believers in Jesus. Satan is trying to deceive us. The kind of things you see happening in the churches now: a leading Pentecostal preacher in this country has said the building of the Tower of Babel is God’s model for unity. Somebody from the Rhema Church on television said we should be like Balaam. Desmond Tutu, a leading “Christian” clergyman said recently that we should ordain lesbian priestesses, and you are not to believe in the resurrection. When you see things like the doctrines of Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin and Rodney Howard-Brown and the laughing phenomena dividing families do you understand? This kind of division is beginning to happen already. Jesus said many will fall away and will betray one another. Do you know who is going to fall away and betray you tomorrow? The same ones who are following the money preachers today because they are hoping in this world. They are teaching Kingdom Now theology. Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world. They are preaching that God wants you rich. Jesus says we should die to self. There is in America a heretic named Robert Schuller. He has said that Jesus went to the cross to magnify his (Schuller’s) ego and that the biggest error the Church has ever taught is death to self. Jesus said unless a man first denies himself he cannot be His disciple. So you see, it is already coming into the churches. Division will come to the House of God as it happened with Lot’s family. And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting. And when morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters, who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD {was} upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. (Genesis 19:14-16 NAS) If it weren’t for God’s compassion, we should all be dead. To save the elect 12 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly those days will be shortened. If it weren’t for God’s compassion and the prayers of Abraham corresponding in figure to the prayer of Jesus, the intercession of Christ as our High Priest, nobody would get out. Go outside the city, escape with your life; don’t look back. Don’t stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains. Just like AD 70. What did Jesus say? You’ll see Jerusalem surrounded, the house is surrounded. Escape. But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! “Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die; now behold, this town is near {enough} to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.” And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. (Genesis 19:18-25 NAS) Lot’s wife looked back. And what does Jesus say but, “He who is in the house must not go back for his possessions; he who is in the field must not go back for his coat.” Don’t look back, just get out of here. Hoping in this world. Kingdom Now. His Kingdom is not of this world. Get out of here or, rather, cool it on the Titanic. We are sailing on the Titanic. Do you want a luxury suite on the Titanic or do you want to get in the lifeboat? Understand the lies that Kingdom Now teaches. They tell you that in Luke’s Gospel where it says, “The Kingdom is going forth slothfully,” then you should take it by violent force. They say that we will establish the kingdom with violent men. When you read it synoptically, however, it says save yourself from this perverse generation. What does it mean? It means you are sailing on a boat that is sinking and people begin fighting to get into the lifeboats. It doesn’t mean that you are to take the Kingdom by force. Press into it in order to escape. That is what the Greek word means, but because the level of biblical education and the knowledge of Hebrew and Greek is so low in Pentecostal and charismatic ministers, they don’t understand what it means. Again, I am a Pentecostal minister myself, but some of them can’t even read English, let alone Greek. Building the Tower of Babel is God’s model for unity? If half these guys were not Pentecostal ministers, you know what they would be saying for a living? “You want fries with that?” The Pentecostal ministry has become a dumping ground for the incompetent. I am serious. These men are dangerous. THE TRUMPET JUDGMENTS Now, let’s begin to understand the trumpet judgments in the Book of Revelation. I can’t go into all of this. You will have to get our tapes on the Jewish Feast of Trumpets. But in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, this connects with the Jewish Feast of Trumpets – the feast of Yom Kippur, when the last trumpet was blown. It also connects with the year of Jubilee. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of {the} archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1Thessalonians 4:13-18 NAS) Revelation, chapter 20:4: “I saw the thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received the mark upon the forehead and upon their and they came to life and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years.” Then, there is another resurrection at the end. Where people go wrong is they confuse two events and they make a hermeneutic mistake. First of all, it talks about Feature Article – Continued sleep. When the little girl was dead and Jesus was going to raise her up, Jesus said she is asleep. They said, “What are you talking about?” “She is asleep,” He said. “Lazarus is asleep,” Jesus told the apostles in John, chapter 11. Paul speaks of the brethren who “sleep.” Unsaved people die; Christians go to sleep. The Bible never uses death for the biological cessation of believers in Jesus. If you are not born again, you’re going to die. In fact, spiritually you are dead already. Your biological cessation is simply perfunctory. You are dead already. Believers in Jesus go to sleep and wake up again. Let’s look at it again. The Lord Himself will descend with a trump. This has to do with the Jewish feasts as a paradigm of heilgeschichte – salvation history. In 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, we see the Lord Himself descending with the shout of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. 1 Corinthians reveals more about this event: Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. The perishable puts on the imperishable, the mortal the immortal (1 Corinthians 15:51-53) We read Scripture through the prism of the Epistles. Jesus established apostolic authority. If you want to know what Jesus meant, look how the apostles understood it and taught it. If you want to understand the rest of the Bible, read the Epistles. What is the Book of Leviticus about? If you read Hebrews, you will find out. The Epistles are inspired commentary, not a commentary you get in a bookshop. They are God’s commentary. We look at the rest of Scripture through the prism of the Epistles. The Epistles do not contain hidden speech. The rest of the Bible, Hebrew poetry, apocalyptic narrative – there are deeper meanings. There’s midrash, there are types and allegories. But the Epistles explain the rest of the Bible. If the Epistles use typology and allegory, they explain what they mean, the way Jesus did with His parables. We read the rest of the Bible through the prism of the apostles’ teachings. You might say this is the Gospel, this is the OLD TESTAMENT. How do I understand it? These glasses are the Epistles; how did the apostles interpret it, apply it and tell us to understand it? You begin with what is plainly stated. You understand the complicated things in light of the simple, clear things. That’s how you begin. Now you go deeper after that, but you begin with what is simple. You don’t begin with calculus; you don’t do calculus until you can do algebra, and you don’t do algebra until you can do arithmetic. You begin with what is simple. You are not going to figure out a logarithm if you don’t know how to count. It doesn’t work that way. We have it in Colossians, we have it in Thessalonians. Then we begin to look at what Jesus taught about the rapture and resurrection through what the apostles said. We always interpret the complex in light of the simple, and the ambiguous in light of the clear. Let me give you an example to explain what I mean. You have two kinds of passages in the Bible that talk about baptism. You have the ones which clearly support believer’s baptism and you have the ones which are ambiguous. Now what we should do is interpret the ambiguous passages about baptism in light of the clearly stated ones. However, people who want to sprinkle babies will do the opposite. They will interpret the clear passages in light of the ambiguous ones; they put the boots on the wrong feet. One day I was talking to three women, and boy were they confused. They are attending a church with their husbands who are religious, and even though the church was somehow evangelical, their husbands were not born again. They were not saved, but they kept saying, “Yes we are; we were baptized when we were babies and we’re members of the church.” You begin telling people they are Christians when they are not, and the devil gets them into hell with religion. Instead of the Church being the ecclesia, the “called out” ones, it becomes a social mechanism for religiosity. How do they do this? Instead of taking the clear passages of the Bible and interpreting the ambiguous ones in the light of what is clearly stated, they do the opposite. The people who are teaching you annihilationism today, like people who run the March for Jesus, Roger Foster and Graham Kenrick, these people say we can’t be sure there is a literal hell. When unsaved people are judged, they might simply be annihilated and will not have a literal eternal hell. There will be no literal conscious judgment of the unsaved. These people in the March for Jesus tell you that when you die and you don’t get born again and accept Jesus and repent, you will be judged and you won’t exist anymore. That’s what many unsaved people believe anyway. That’s what’s in back of the March for Jesus when you look at the people who run it. Now the Greek phrase “forever” relative to the torment of the unsaved (“The smoke of their torment will go on forever and ever”) is the same phrase used for the High Priesthood of Jesus for the Glory of God and our salvation being “forever.” Hence, if we can’t be sure that the torment of the unsaved is an eternal conscious one, how can we be sure that our salvation is an eternal conscious salvation. They use eisegesis rather than exegesis; they read things into the Bible it doesn’t say. Instead of interpreting the unclear passages, the ambiguous ones, in light of what is clearly started, they do the opposite. They cast out what is clearly stated by over-amplifying the ambiguous portions. Well this is what many do with the rapture. You’ve got the clearly started passages supporting it and you have other passages which are ambiguous. What do they do? They take the ambiguous and use it to cast out what is clearly stated. That’s their first mistake. The second mistake is they are confusing the return of Christ with the rapture and resurrection. If you use the term “third coming,” that wouldn’t exactly be accurate, but it would somehow describe it. First the Lord comes for His Body of believers, then He comes back with us to establish His Messianic Kingdom. Now we have a tape for “One Messiah, Two Comings,” where we explain from a Jewish perspective, why there must be a Millennium. If there is no Millennium, Jesus can’t be the Jewish Messiah. And if He is not the Messiah of Israel, neither is He the Christ of the Church. Let’s look at the Book of Revelation midrashically. Revelation 8:1: “And when He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” So there is silence. You have got the seven seals, but out of the seven seals there is a seventh seal, and from the seventh seal come seven trumpets. So you have silence, then you have seven, but the seventh has a numerical sub-set of seven. Then they blow the last trumpet. When they blow the last trumpet in Chapter 11 what happens? The kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and of His Messiah (verse 15). But before this you have two olive trees, the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord who are the two witnesses from the Book of Zechariah. So you have silence, seven sevens but the seventh seven has a subset of seven. Again, you have these two witnesses, then the last trumpet is blown and it says the kingdoms of the world, have become the Kingdom of our God and His Messiah. This is a midrashic relay of the story of Joshua. They march around Jericho seven days, but the seventh day they do it seven times. So you have a subset of seven coming out of the seventh of the initial seven and when the Levites are leading the people around, God tells them June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 13 Feature Article – Continued they must be totally silent. Somehow those two spies that Joshua sends into the city to rescue Rahab, the Gentile woman, are a type of the rapture of the Church. Those two spies (m’rag’lim in Hebrew) are types of these two witnesses in revelation. They blow the last trumpet in Jericho, the walls come tumbling down, and they say, “This city has been given to us by the Lord.” The last trumpet in Revelation is blown. What happens? The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Messiah. One replays the other. It is the same as the exodus. The rapture and resurrection occur between the sixth and seventh seals after the sealing of the 144,000 Israelites. John sees them in Heaven. That’s where it happens during the second half of the 70th week of Daniel, to the best of my understanding. You cannot prove that the Great Tribulation is the last seven years. You can only prove that the second half is the Great Tribulation: 2 x 1-1/2 = 1260 days. It’s broken into two halves both in Daniel and Revelation. You say you are “pre-trib?” That does not necessarily mean the beginning of the seven years. He is coming sometime during. The second-half is much worse than the first. In fact, in the beginning it seems the anti-Christ counterfeits the Millennium and things get better, or appear to get better, at least initially, but not for the Church. There are a number of people who typify these two witnesses. Those two angels who came and rescued Lot’s family somehow teach about those two witnesses. Obviously Elijah, and Enoch, and Moses teach about those witnesses. The two spies teach about those witnesses. In Zechariah it’s the olive trees. Who does Zechariah see? One of priestly descent and one of regal or kindly descent. In chapter 3, Zechariah says, “He showed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan at his right and Joshua was clothed with filthy garments.” Joshua is there and is before the throne of God with Satan. But the other person who co-ministers with Joshua – when you read Zechariah, Haggi, Ezra and Nehemiah all at the same time, they cast light on each other. The other is Zerubbabel. Joshua and Zerubbabel somehow also teach about these two witnesses. What did the two angels in Sodom do? They got God’s people out of there. What did those two spies do in the Book of Joshua? They got God’s people, Rahab – a type of the Gentile church – out of there. You have two Greek words for time: kyros and chronos. How you apply time to eternity, I don’t know. It sounds like every half-hour. 14 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly There is a lot I don’t understand, but the pattern is clear. There will be a rapture, and the Bible tells us a lot about it. It tells us what kind of people are going to be in it, what kind are not, who is going to be ready and who won’t. Now I have just scratched the surface. I am going to give you just one more passage, a lesson in midrash. Matthew 25 – the wise and foolish virgins. The wise ones had oil in their lamps. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” – the illumination of the Holy Spirit for our understanding of Scripture. In the last days understanding and faithfulness become closely associated. When God shows Daniel about the last days, about what is going to come upon Israel, He says that those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many (Daniel 11:33-35). But then he says in chapter 12 “Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly.” Just as in Revelation, yet men do not repent of their deeds. None of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. In 2 Thessalonians 2:11, it says the Lord Himself will send a strong delusion upon them so that they may believe what is false because they are taking pleasure in wickedness. Those who do not love knowledge of the truth fit Daniel’s prophecy like a glove. When people do not love the truth it means they don’t love Jesus. If they don’t care about right biblical doctrine which is the teaching of Jesus, it means they don’t care about Him. The Word becomes flesh. The Bible is Jesus in print. If they don’t love the truth, they don’t love Jesus. They are taking pleasure in wickedness. The stuff you see happening – the deceptions of the churches, the increase of evil in the world – all point to the last days. Look what has happened to your country in the last three years. Pornography on television; what used to be political violence is now just crime, worse than it has ever been. You’ve got witchdoctors on platforms with your national leaders; you’ve got a new constitution coming which could severely curtail your freedom to proclaim the Gospel. On top of all the crime, on top of what is happening to your schools, abortion has been legalized. On top of all that, something else has happened. Militant Islam claims it can stop crime and restore a moral righteousness to your country because Christianity and Judaism have failed. That’s your country. As it stands now, your children will have no future in this country and men in your churches are telling you to roll on the floor and laugh, God is doing something. Which god? The Lord Himself will send a delusion so that they may believe what is false – those who took pleasure in wickedness and did not love the truth. They don’t want to know right doctrine. I’m a Pentecostal myself, I am a Full Gospel minister, I lecture in a Full Gospel theological college, but I am a biblical Pentecostal. These people are not. The Song of Solomon is what is read in the synagogues at Passover time. In Matthew 25 Jesus was speaking during Passover. He took what was being read in the synagogues at Passover and He said this is what the last days will be like. The Song of Solomon is built on two dreams: chapters 3 and 5. We know from the gender and number in Hebrew what the bride is singing. It was a type of the Church in Israel – what the bridegroom is singing – a type of Jesus – represented by Solomon and what the witnesses are singing. It’s Shulamite’s best dream. She is ready for her beloved to come, “On my bed night after night I saw him. I found him whom my soul loves and brought into my mother’s house.” Chapter 3 is her best dream. Chapter 5 is her worst nightmare. “I was asleep but my heart was awake, my beloved was knocking. Open to me my darling.” He’s gone, she misses him. That’s what is being read in the synagogues at Passover, to this day. It will be your best dream or your worst nightmare. WE NEED OIL IN OUR LAMPS – THE ILLUMINATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S WORD. WHEN JESUS COMES, IT WILL BE OUR BEST DREAM OR OUR WORST NIGHTMARE. THE TIME TO GET THE OIL IS NOW. GOD BLESS YOU. Danny Isom Guest Author Leaving the Elementary TEACHINGS “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.” Hebrews 5:12-6:2 While recently studying through Hebrews in concert with “The 2008 Walk with the Word Reading Plan” (http://www. walkwiththeword.org/index.html) this particular passage was in no small way deeply disturbing. The writer of Hebrews provides a specific list described as “elementary principles” and “elementary teaching,” for which he admonishes Christians as falling far short of the “solid food” needed to attain spiritual maturity in Christ. This list alarmed me because so many Christians’ exposure to God’s Word has been so greatly minimized today that I would be absolutely elated if they actually knew these basics. There are six things specifically identified as “elementary teaching,” the things which every believer should know without question: “…repentance from dead works…” This refers to the old way of adhering only to the Old Testament Law. This was the message of John the Baptist, to repent of going through the motions of being religious and to become truly changed from the heart; to repent in order to accept the “live” works, so to speak, to come through the Messiah. “…faith towards God…” This is the distinction of having a relationship with God based not on keeping the Old Testament Law, but upon a faithful relationship with Him through Christ. [Note: “Faith” and “faithfulness” are always interchangeable words in both the Greek and Hebrew.] “…instruction about washings…” Although some translations use “baptism,” “washings” is the better term as the Greek word for baptism isn’t actually used here. The plural form of the word is also inconsistent with the concept of singular baptism, as we are baptized but once. Therefore it refers to the act of regeneration which is performed by the Holy Spirit when one receives Christ, and it stands in contrast to the Old Testament’s myriad cleansing requirements and rituals which were a shadow teaching of the work of the Holy Spirit. “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5) “…laying on of hands…” Most likely this refers to the laying on of hands to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, probably an “elementary” teaching following the point of salvation as evidenced in the early Church (e.g., Acts 8:17-18; 9:17). The gift provided generally identifies a calling to perform greater works/deeds on behalf of the Kingdom of God. “…the resurrection of the dead…” Another teaching that would logically follow closely to the early stages of a believer’s salvation experience referring to the hope of the resurrection of believers as a result of Christ’s resurrection. “…eternal judgment…” You know… that final “big” one. Just honestly take the time to score yourself, your local church, and the Christians you know best as to the quality and depth of knowledge each one has when it comes to this laundry list of “elementary” teachings: • Repentance of sin/the old life. • Walking in faith/faithfulness towards God. • Walking according to the Spirit. • Receiving/employing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. • The hope (future fact) of our reurretion in Christ. • Final judgment. Isn’t it shocking that there might be Christians who don’t know these, the basic components of Christianity? I’m not trying to be elitist or overstate my own understanding of God’s Word and ways, but instead I’m struggling to come to terms with the fact that so many are being improperly fed in western churches. If you or your local church aren’t thoroughly versed in these basics of Christianity, what exactly has been your focus instead? When the basics are missing, what has been substituted in the name of God’s Word? If we don’t know the basics, why would we even suppose to have a grasp on the deeper things of Christ? And then, as the Walk with the Word reading plan moved me through the book of Romans, I was struck with the number of times Paul asks rhetorical questions, using some form of “Don’t you know?” Whereas many a seminary treats Romans as the centerpiece to developing and teaching what they term “Pauline theology,” the June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 15 Guest Author Danny Isom proper context is that this, too, is not the most advanced of all teachings, but something Paul expects every Christian to have a basic and thorough understanding of. This epistle, which goes into so much detail on the working of Christ’s righteousness in the forms of salvation, justification, and sanctification is, in Paul’s estimation, simply the basics. If someone doesn’t have a handle on items 1 through 6 listed above, what are the odds they’re even close to digesting the “basics” presented in Romans? Perhaps there is no better testimony to the degraded state of the average Christian’s grasp of God’s Word than a trip to the local Christian bookstore. 20 or 30 years ago such stores were filled with tomes written by Spirit-filled teachers exegeting Scripture and not just teaching the basics, but moving us into more advanced areas. Today, however, such have been replaced by the voluminous sections “Christian Fiction” and “Christian Living” which only seem to vaguely reference Scripture, if at all. Such titles have largely betrayed the six basic items previously mentioned, much less offering anything deeper or scripturally substantive. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. of faith in Christ, how can they possibly navigate the end-time deception come upon us and discern the truth from the lie? There is probably no greater concern for which we can pray on behalf of the Church at large and our fellow Christians personally than a return to His Word – a hunger for the basics giving way to the deeper things of Christ. This, and a sincere desire for repentance from sin, are the hallmarks of every legitimate revival in the Church’s history. But short of that, we should not be surprised at the rise in popularity of the antichrist spirit in the guise of mega-churches and socalled Christian publishers’ “best sellers” lists when not even the elementary principles of God’s Word are being advanced. In His Love, Danny Isom mailto:[email protected]. The Walk with the Word Web site, www.walkwiththeword.org, is dedicated to personal and small group Bible study by teaching the basics of the Inductive Study Approach in concert with “The 2008 Walk with the Word reading plan.” The ultimate goal is to apply God’s Word personally to the point that it becomes evident in our changed relationships with others so that the preeminent command of Scripture, to love others, is visibly fulfilled. Colossians 2:8 It seems that many have been taken “captive…according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ,” while failing to achieve anything further advanced beyond the basics. This is what happens when pulpits and small groups move away from the Bible to books and programs rooted in the world’s principles, pop psychology, or any other substitute for God’s Word. It’s with a very heavy heart that I acknowledge that this is most likely one of the strongest indications to date of the imminent return of Christ, because a great falling away is predicted as one of the most prominent signs of His return. If Christians don’t understand what God’s Word says about the basics of sin and salvation, how will they possibly understand the prophetic things of Scripture? If they can’t articulate the nuts and bolts 16 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Quotes of the QUARTER ! General William Booth, with great prophetic insight, stated over fifty years ago: “The chief danger of the twentieth century, will be Religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, Forgiveness without repentance. Salvation without regeneration, Heaven without hell.” The water of life is the Word from GOD Note: ‘Hebrew is read from right to left’ ’tfel ot thgir morf daer si werbeH‘ :etoN Ancient Hebrew Word Meanings Faith ~ Emunah By Jeff A. Benner The Hebrew root aman means firm, something that is supported or secure. This word is used in Isaiah 22:23 for a nail that is fastened to a “secure” place. Derived from this root is the word emun meaning a craftsman. A craftsman is one who is firm and secure in his talent. Also derived from aman is the word emunah meaning firmness, something or someone that is firm in it or his actions. When the Hebrew word emunah is translated as “faith,” misconceptions of its meaning occur. Faith is usually perceived as a knowing, while the Hebrew emunah is a firm action. To have faith in God is not just knowing that God exists, or knowing that He will act. Rather, it is that the one with emunah will act with firmness toward God’s will. Ancient Hebrew Word Meanings Atonement ~ kaphar By Jeff A. Benner The Hebrew word kaphar means “to cover over,” such as a lid, and is the word for the lid of the Ark of the Covenant (though many translations translate this as “mercy seat” for no etymological reason). This word is translated as “pitch,” which was spread over Noah’s ark in order to make it watertight (Genesis 6:14). This same word is also translated as “atonement.” The word atonement is an abstract, but in order to understand the true Hebrew meaning of a word we must look to the concrete meaning. If an offense has been made, the one that has been offended can act as though the offense is covered over and unseen. We express this idea through the word of forgiveness. Atonement is an outward action that covers over the error. Copyright © 2006 Ancient Hebrew Research Center, http://www.ancient-hebrew.org Bill Randles Special Interest TODD BENTLEY the new S imon Magus S [C] Thomas [email protected] By Bill Randles “But there was a certain man called Simon... claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “this man is the great power of God.” And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.” Acts 8:9-11 Todd Bentley is great ! If you don’t believe me just ask the multitudes who have been astonished by the “miraculous revival” in Lakeland Florida! Or just check out the Christian television show “Xtreme prophetic” featuring Host Patricia King, which I saw on Youtube. Bentley was featured on the show as one of the new prophets of the younger generation. Patricia King spoke for many when she proclaimed Todd as an “awesome man of power who is a Seer.” She also announced that Todd has brought “a million people into the Kingdom of God in the last eight years.” Todd was a guest on the show with his mentor, another great prophet – Bob Jones. His resume was equally impressive. King described Him as “a champion of the Seer realm,” and “one of the most accurate of prophets of our generation.” She thanked him for being a “father of the faith” as well as a seer prophet. Bentley has great reverence for Bob Jones. When Bentley prepares for his yearly visitation of the Lord to seek what is the Word for the year to come, part of the preparation involves consulting with Jones: “...needing a clear commission from the Lord concerning direction for the year, I always seek Him about what lies ahead. With that purpose, recently, I asked my friend Bob Jones (a gifted, mature seer-prophet) about what God was saying to him concerning 2008….” (Todd Bentley, prophetic word for 2008, HYPERLINK “http://www.elijahlist. com/” \t “_blank” www.elijahlist.com) Never mind that Bentley’s mentor Bob Jones is a proven false prophet* put under discipline for fondling women who came to him for “prophetic counsel.” When you are GREAT, or you are billed as something like “The Great Power of God,” you never have to worry about things like the scriptural warnings to avoid false prophets. Jones’ predictions, such as his warning of an imminent earthquake in Los Angeles in 1997,* have failed to materialize time after time. Neither has Jones’ outrageous doctrine. Jones has taught that “the Government of the earth” shall rest on the shoulders of restored apostles and prophets – that there is a physical “elected seed” out of the bloodlines of Paul, David, Peter, and John who would become the last days Manchild company! Neither doctrinal, nor moral deviations get in the way of the truly GREAT. Only small, narrow religious people worry about such things. Pharisees! Nit pickers! Why worry about Deuteronomy 18, which warns that we are not to fear any prophet who makes predictions in the name of the Lord, which fail to come to pass? Or why worry about Deuteronomy 13:1-3, which warns of the possibility that a prophet could actually perform signs and wonders, yet still be false? The only way to tell would be if the teaching of the prophet led people to follow other gods. Get it? The choice presented by the true God is between Power or Teaching. Another “great prophet” very much esteemed by Bentley and his mentors, Bob Jones and Paul Cain, is the late William Branham. Branham’s power was Great ! He could tell people what their name was and what symptoms they had in their body; he would then pray for healings which actually manifested! It was Great! The only problem was Branham’s teaching. He had a few quirks, such as his belief that the doctrine of the Trinity was of the devil, his belief that the zodiac was as valid as the word of God, and his delusion that he was the Angel of the church of Laodicea! When He died in a head-on auto crash in 1965, his followers were so obsessed with his “works of power” they delayed burying him for several months, hoping that he would be resurrected the following Easter! He was that GREAT! Bentley, Cain, Rick Joyner and the disgraced and discredited Bob Jones* all admire the false prophet Branham to this day. The saw him as Great, and wanted to be regarded as the next Great one. People who are so enamored by these false prophets also want greatness, but in a different way. They lust for a “Great showy display of the power of God.” Their hearts are not right. Like the Samaritans in Acts 8, they are willing to be “astonished” by sorceries, false signs, gold dust, stigmata, etc., because they have departed from God and any sense of His truly awesome power. Proverbs 9 says, “By the knowledge of the Holy comes understanding.” Unfortunately these people have no understanding. Listening to Bentley, et al, one hears story after story of the varied subjective experiences these mystics are having: “In the Holy Place,” “under the Shepherds Rod,” “yearly appointments with Jesus,” of course on the Day of Atonement. As the Samaritans were enamored with Simon the Great, the so-called “Great power of God,” this adulterous generation clamors for and will receive many more such deceivers – perhaps even more powerful versions of Bentley, Cain, Joyner, Jones and even Branham, until the coming of the ultimate “Great Man,” the antichrist himself! The emphasis is in the wrong place; we are not called to seek greatness or to adulate great men. As recorded in Acts 8, when Peter told Simon Magus that he was “in the gall of bitterness,” he was quoting Moses’ warning that idolatry would become a “root of bitterness” to Israel (Deuteronomy 29:18). Peter also saw that this fascination with greatness in men and the lust to see great works of power would be for the churches what idolatry was for Israel – a root of bitterness defiling many. Perhaps it is not too late to turn away from this idolatry of greatness and great men, and lust for great power. The church is actually sick – at least the expression of the church following the “Greatness Movement.” Perhaps this sickness will not be unto death, but that even yet there will be a humble turning back to truth so that God may be glorified. * (as documented in two of my books WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING and BEWARE THE NEW PROPHETS June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 17 Mike Oppenheimer Point of Interest Todd Bentley “Meet the New thing- Same as the Old thing” “Will We get Fooled Again?” The newest wandering star breaking forth on the Signs and wonders scene is Todd Bentley, a Canadian evangelist from Abbotsford, BC, Canada. He and his team hold crusades in over 55 nations where they say, “Thousands have been saved, healed and delivered.” Todd claims that in his late teens he had a dramatic encounter with the saving and delivering power of God, which brought him out of a lifestyle of drug and alcohol addiction, without cravings or withdrawal symptoms. He was also delivered from a lifestyle involving criminal activity, youth prisons, drugs, sex, satanic music and bondage. Todd’s miraculous conversion to Jesus seems much like the Apostle Paul’s on the Damascus road. Todd was instantly transformed into a radical disciple and soul-winning evangelist for Jesus. (Website- About Us, Todd Bentley’s Personal Profile). “Saved” at 17, he began preaching and prophesying shortly after. In his Biography, Bentley says that God has drawn him into deep and intimate places of prayer. These extended times in God’s presence have released a fresh prophetic and miracle-healing anointing. He wants to “see others set free through the anointing of the Holy Spirit and to see others come into the reality of intimate relationship with Jesus.” We are told that “he ministers prophetically, corporately and personally as well as brings forth the word of God with the power and demonstration of the Spirit – God confirming His word with signs and wonders following. God has released an increase of the healing anointing into Todd’s life to the point where the blind see, the deaf hear and growths dissolve as Jesus still heals every sickness and disease.” Wow, these are just a few impressive 18 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly marketing phrases that do not even compare to the supernatural stories that surround him. His ministry is called, “Fresh Fire Ministries International: Apostolic Network.” After a short visit to Ignited Church in Lakeland, Florida, last year Bentley was invited by the pastor, Stephen Strader, to return. He has been conducting “healing meetings” twice daily in Lakeland since April 2, 2008. The 700-seat sanctuary of Ignited Church is filled up as people have been waiting for hours for the doors to open. It has now been attended by more than 20,000. Stephen Strader is the son of Karl Strader, former pastor of Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland that launched Rodney Howard-Browne’s ministry in the US. TBN carried its services, and the church was influenced to believe this kind of preaching and behavior is what revival is about. Like previous revivals, people from all over are willing to fly to Lakeland to catch the revival fire and bring it back to wherever they live, not knowing that if it is God, you are unable to capture Him (or His anointing) and distribute Him (or it) to others. Instead of getting people saved they are getting people lost by their listening to a man’s experiences of the supernatural that are both unbiblical and untrue. This revival has all the spiritual sensations and activities of the other revivals combined: roaring, groaning, burning sensations in the body, head, and stomach, shaking, jerking, spiritual drunkenness and uncontrollable laughter. Then there are some new manifestations: people have their eyes rolled in the back of their heads; reports of women gyrating and pulsating as if they’re being ravaged from behind by some unseen force. Whether these things are holy or unholy may still debated by some, but to those of us that are knowledgeable on the previous revivals and the power of the occult, the jury is in: maximum unholiness. The source is not the God of the Bible. This may disturb some, but if they will use their Bible, pray, and think it through, they will gain discernment and spiritual understanding. The shakes, jerks, twitching, frozen stillness, laughter, and falling to the floor have all been standard in revivals since By Mike Oppenheimer Benny Hinn passed “it” on to Rodney Howard-Browne. It came through Randy Clark and filled many of the Vineyard churches as well. It continues today, but this time the conductor of this orchestrated supernatural hodgepodge is Todd Bentley. When it comes right down to it, Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Outpouring is just another chapter added to the various “false revivals” of our time. This revival is a continuation of the Pensacola Revival, that came from the Toronto Blessing, that came from Rodney Howard-Browne, that came from Benny Hinn, etc. I’m able to say this because I have studied these revivals from when the Kansas City prophets came into the Vineyard churches, which began in the 80’s. And now this. Bentley has been doing his take on miracle ministry for over 8 years: It wasn‘t long before he began to pray for people who needed fillings in their teeth. Seven people received gold teeth last night. One lady was standing at the front, and while waiting to be prayed for received five gold teeth in a row. Not just filled, but bulging with gold. People were being healed in their seats; others heard the instruments prophesy in an audible voice; over the two nights there were salvations and more healings (Source: Message posted on the pro-Toronto Blessing New Wine mailing list (item on file), March 22, 1999) -underline mine) Diamond-dust manifestations of God’s presence have appeared in meetings led by Todd Bentley in Canada and Ian Turton in Australia. There have been other places where they have appeared also, but it seems that they are not as commonplace as the gold dust and gold dental miracles. According to Bentley they look like fine, sparkly, ground glass reflecting light in beautiful colors. (Message posted on the pro-Toronto Blessing New Wine mailing list (item on file), Feb. 16, 2000). Once we identify the people Todd Bentley associates with, the angels that work among him (which he claims to have constant experiences with), we can then understand exactly what this is all about. Bentley has shown no sign of leaving Lakeland since an angel, he said, visited him the day after he arrived. “Prophetic min- Mike Oppenheimer ister” Bob Jones told Bentley he believed the angel‘s name was Winds of Change – the same angel, Jones said, that visited healing evangelist William Branham in the 1940s. (Paul Steven Ghiringhelli, Lakeland, Fla., Asst News Editor, Charisma, HYPERLINK “http://www.charismamag. com/news/archives/042208d.html” http:// www.charismamag.com/news/archives/ 042208d.html) ”…the second night of the Lakeland meetings…he said he saw an angel he described as carrying the Winds of Change.” Asking him to describe this angel, Bentley replied that those familiar with the life of William Branham would recognize the angel from being a relevant factor in his healing ministry. He felt that this angel‘s appearance signaled a “shift in the atmosphere” for the meetings and felt that an openness for revival had been ushered in. (Teresa Neumann, “Reports of Revival Breaking Out in Lakeland, Florida,” HYPERLINK “http://www.freshfire.ca/index. php?Act=read&status=revival&Id=132& pid=954&bid=93” http://www.freshfire. ca/index.php?Act=read&status=revival&I d=132&pid=954&bid=93) “He has prepared you for such a time as this ... there is a Branham anointing on you and a double portion of it! (Che Ahn to Todd Bentley, Lakeland Revival, April 24, 2008, God TV) Bentley is well read on Branham. In an article entitled, “Living in the Supernatural,” Bentley describes in detail how Branham conducted his services: “When people would come on the platform to receive healing and Branham entered that realm, he would go into visions and tell everyone many details of their life. He did this only as a sign that the Lord would heal them. People would wait in healing lines for hours. They would have to get a card with a number to get into the healing line to even get prayer. He would wait for an angel to come and stand behind him on his left side. He would do nothing until the angel arrived.” The beginning of the prophetic movement goes back to the 1940s where there began what certain Pentecostals call the “Healing Revival.” It continued from 1947 to 1957, led by Oral Roberts, T.L. Osborn, Jack Coe, A.A. Allen, and O.L. Jaggers. Gordon Lindsay’s Voice of Healing magazine recorded many of their astonishing stories. And there was also William Branham who stood out among them all as “the healer and prophet.” The Pentecostal Healing Movement was transformed by a number of new teachings he introduced. It was called the Latter-Rain, which began in Canada from Branham who laid hands on the leaders. From the beginning Branham had unusual manifestations which he attributed to his angel. “The power invested me by my commission given by Almighty God and ministered to me by an Angel, a Pillar of Light” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.112-113). Branham admits the angel is a pillar of light (this will become important as we look at Todd Bentley’s experiences with angels and light). The angel that William Branham had was actually a powerful angel of light – a demonic entity that masqueraded as the angel of the Lord and the Holy Spirit of God. This entity appeared throughout Branham’s life from early childhood and eventually led him into all kinds of serious error. It is crucial to understand what Bentley is claiming, by renewing the call of William Branham. Bentley’s acknowledgement of his angel as Branham’s angel via Bob Jones (notwithstanding the many other angels that constantly visit him) puts his imprimatur on Branham being used of God. This is not that unusual; many charismatics endorse Branham. The difference is that he is saying this angel is an influence or power in his ministry. If one examines the beliefs of William Branham that were taught by this angel there is no other conclusion but it being heresy. Branham was guided by this angel his whole life, he claimed the angel was with him night and day. He stated that he was unable to minister unless the angel was at his side (Kurt Koch, Occult Bondage and Deliverance, pp. 49-50). “I’m convinced that it’s the Angel of the Lord.…I’m convinced that, right now, that this is what I’m looking at, this circle of light before me, I’m convinced that’s the Holy Spirit! (“Convinced than Concerned,” June 10, 1962). Ironically, Bentley is also “Convinced than Concerned.” The healings and prophecies purportedly came through an angel that was always with Branham on stage and continually gave him counsel and revelations (Kathie Adler, William Branham: His Life and Teachings, Narrow Way Ministries, Holbrook, N.Y., 1986; pp. 3-5). Branham claimed that he was the angel in Rev 3:14 and 10:7. From a supernatural experience he believed that he was Elijah, who would precede Christ’s second coming. Branham taught that the angels to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation were men who appeared at various times throughout Church history bringing new revelation, and that he was the messenger of the last Church age, Laodicea. From his alleged angelic influence, he denied the Trinity and called it a satanic doctrine: “Thus saith the Lord, ‘trinitarianism is of the Devil’” (Footprints, p. 606). Branham taught the oneness doctrine of the godhead: “Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the self same person, only in a Point of Interest different form. It’s three manifestations of the same Person, or you might call it three offices....” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, pp.156-157) He at times denied that the Son of God is the eternal God. In referring to John.1 he said, “Now, in the beginning was the word. A word is thought expressed. In the beginning He wasn‘t even God” (The Mighty God Unveiled Before Us, p.11). Branham taught numerous other strange and heretical doctrines: that God in all ages had skin on him, even before the incarnation; that Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) was sexual sin with the serpent and that Cain was the offspring (known as the serpent seed doctrine). Branham believed in two authorities besides the Scriptures: the Zodiac and the Egyptian pyramids were other revelations of God. He taught that denominations were abominations; belonging to any denomination meant you had taken “the mark of the beast.” There are many others too numerous to list here. Those who endorse Branham as genuine only implicate themselves as being ignorant and immature in the Word of God. (see Branham). From the Latter Rain of this time period we hear the same: “the next great outpouring is going to be marked by all these other truths plus such a demonstration of the nine gifts of the Spirit as the world, not even the Apostolic world, has ever witnessed before. This revival will be short and will be the last before the Rapture of the Church” (Richard Riss, Latter Rain, Honeycomb Visual Productions, pg. 56-57). Today we hear: “On New Year’s Eve, for 2008, God told Bob Jones that ‘the third wave was coming.’ Todd asked Bob what the third wave was. He said that Toronto was wave #1, Pensacola was wave #2, and the third wave is the ‘Winds of Change’ – this move of God. This move will be a global move, traveling with signs and wonders all over the world! The third wave is here!” http://www.openheaven.com/ The “third wave” is a cliché coined by Peter Wagner who heads up the apostle/ prophet movement where many of the Kansas city prophets have come under his leadership. From what I have read and watched in video, when you go to one of these meetings your senses will be assaulted by the enthusiasm of the crowd and Todd Bentley’s supermarket of supernatural ideas and revelation experiences that exceed those of any biblical apostle. As he tells his stories he acts out his induction by psychological and spiritual manipulation in an entertaining package. A servant of God does not speak or act in this manner. Bentley can manifest the “anointing” by shaking his head back and forth, with his body physically June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 19 Point of Interest – Continued shaking. He will even wave his arms over the audience, shouting, “Fire! Fire! Fire!” This is nearly identical to Toronto and Pensacola. And his own ID, shouting “BAM!” We will examine the subjective experiences and revelations he is bringing others into, and the objective, i.e., the teachings, the new revelations from angels, and his stories’ inconsistency with the Bible and within themselves at times. First: in his ministry’s “Statement of Faith,” the majority is in agreement with Christian teaching. However, there are a few points that need to be focused on: “We Believe in... Number 1. THE WORD OF GOD-We hold the Bible to be trustworthy, the only supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. Scripture is our source of revelation of God,…it is the final Court of Appeal on all points of doctrine, life and godliness. (2 Tim 3:1617; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Hebrews 4:12). ”Number 12. FURTHER REVELATION - We recognize that God is continually restoring truth and light to His Church. Therefore, we place no limit on further revelation; however, each must be substantiated according to the Scriptures.” HYPERLINK “http://www.freshfire.ca/ index.php?Id=106” http://www.freshfire. ca/index.php?Id=106 That is exactly what we will do: look to see if what Bentley teaches and practices is substantiated according to the Scriptures when they are read correctly and in context of the authors’ intent. This last statement of faith in itself is an oxymoron since God has already finished his revelation and does not continue giving more and more. Instead, we are to learn and understand what is already given. This means we have an open Bible. This has become the modus operandi of Bentley’s ministry and lifestyle. I personally believe (and have experienced) the power of God and genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit which are given to empower our ministries and lives. Some think that we should just have an attitude of rejoicing for the good reports coming from Lakeland and not concentrate on any flaws. These people often make excuses for anything that does not line up with Bible doctrine because they want to believe, and not be critical of someone in ministry. They are willing to accept anything, even when error stares them straight in the face. But a mature believer will not blush and run from an examination, nor fear what man may say, but only what God says. We want to be sober minded, on guard, discerning, knowing we are at the end of the age during which Jesus warned there would be great signs and wonders to deceive the elect (us). This is what God says, 20 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly and it is not to be ignored. Some people have wondered if this is the new age inside the church. Well, its operatives have been working inside since the late 80s and early 90s, so we should not be surprised at the escalation of power in counterfeit miracles and experiences. Because the masses are attracted to SEE a miracle they have become unable to hear; they have become deaf to the Word of God. In the vacuum of true Bible exposition, in which they are supposed to grow, they are seeking supernatural experiences promoted in Bentley’s gatherings. For years Bentley has openly promoted angelic encounters, transportation to Heaven, and Jesus appearing. He is preaching what is not in the Bible, and it does not make one hungry for the word, but instead desirous of supernatural experiences. Some may ask, “Why is this wrong?” I will hold off on answering this immediately and let you decide after you have read of the experiences and the refutations by the Word of God, which is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword. What we need is to be in prayer for the many young people that are attending his meetings, that they not be led astray or damaged by what is encouraged for them to do. The book of Leviticus speaks about piercing and tattoos - that we are not to follow the trends of the world, we are to be sanctified. It is in the last several years that Bentley has thoroughly decorated himself for his ministry. On this site it gives pictures of his tattoos: http://www. scribd.com/doc/2909690/AN-ANGELCALLED-EMMA Putting aside his abundance of tattoos and body piercing, it is far more important to examine the teachings and concepts he is putting forth to know whether the source of the supernatural that is taking place is of God or is from somewhere else. How does a sign and wonder deceive? When it is delivered by someone who does not know or teach the Word correctly. This is not about someone’s quirky personality, but what they believe, teach, and practice apart from sound doctrine. You can also know what people believe by the people they associate with; Bentley’s associations should be the first red flag for anyone familiar with the prophetic movement and the Latter Rain proponents: Bob Jones, Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, Randy Clarke, John Arnott (Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship), Patricia King, and a host of unknowns that also hold to Latter Rain teachings. Bentley is a part of “Elijah’s List,” a loose group of false prophets who have intentionally divorced themselves from the Word of God in their interpretation and operation of spiritual gifts. They now have an influential internet forum to sell their books and DVD’s, and to post their prophetic promptings. They daily post every wacky nonsensical prophecy possible; nothing seems to be prohibited. If you think you have heard it all, you have not until you’ve read their daily posts. Lets read just a few teachings from the Elijah list website: Q: Do psychics have a prophetic gift from God? A: While there is no verse in the Bible that says that psychics have a prophetic gift from God, there are numerous passages in the Bible that, if taken together, paint a picture of a loving Heavenly Father who gives gifts to every single person from the time of his or her conception. Some of these passages include: scripture references given for brevity- Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13,16 ; James 1:17; Romans 11:29. (submitted by a reader of our Web site. Prophetic TV is a production of Elijah List ministries h t t p : / / w w w. p r o p h e t i c . t v / f a q s . p h p ) Sorry, there are no Scriptures to justify this. None the Scriptures he cited have any reference to everyone being born with spiritual gifts. God gives us natural gifts, not supernatural gifts. Natural gifts are for the natural man. The spiritual gifts come only through possession by the Holy Spirit. They are for those who believe the Gospel, not for everyone born. Yet Shultz says that these “were born with a prophetic gifting from God,” they can “use their gifts for their own selfish, and even demonic, purposes.” If they can’t get this right, how trustworthy are they to discern truth from error? They’re not. This is beyond absurd and scary. It shows us how bankrupt they are in understanding the Gospel and the Holy Spirit who works “charisma” in believers only. In another the article, “Debugging the prophetic,” Steve Shultz, who heads up the Elijah list, asks a question: “How and where do you find accountability for the accuracy and fulfillment of prophetic words delivered by the prophets today? Who can I rely on?” Answer: “When we post any word at all on The Elijah List website – ANY word – some think it’s from God and some think it’s NOT from God. So, that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Over time, you will decide literally for yourself which words you feel are trustworthy for YOU and/or which prophets you feel have the least or best credibility.” After making a case for prophetic accuracy with Hurricane Katrina, he goes on to say, “So, the bottom line is this: just work to decide for yourself which prophet/ prophetess you most trust and which you don’t and leave it at that. I believe this is Point of Interest – Continued the wisest course.” Is this how we decide? It is up to an individual’s feelings to determine what is true or not. This is not wise or biblical. We are not to lean on our own understanding; we are to trust in God’s delivered word. Our trust is not to be in men that prophesy, but in the God of prophecy. This is an “everyman-does-what-is-right-in-his-own-eyes” philosophy. It is promoting a prophetic free-for-all. When Israel did this they were misled by the false prophets. And what were the false prophets saying? Through their dreams and visions they were telling the people of Israel’s future. Lets look at whom Bentley attributes his influence from – ANGELS: “Now let me talk about an angelic experience with Emma. Twice Bob Jones asked me about this angel that was in Kansas City in 1980: ‘Todd, have you ever seen the angel by the name of Emma?’ he asked me as if he expected that this angel was appearing to me. Surprised, I said, ‘Bob, who is Emma?’ He told me that Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s. She was a mothering type angel that helped nurture the prophetic as it broke out.’” HYPERLINK “http://www. etpv.org/2003/angho.html” http://www. etpv.org/2003/angho.html. A “female” angel. There are none mentioned in the Bible, not once. Every time angels appeared they looked like men. They are called sons of God, not sons and daughters of God. It is crucial to understand the roots of this whole movement that first went through the Vineyard churches through John Wimber, then spread to the body of Christ. To befriend Bob Jones (who is one among many sordid characters he hangs out with) is not good. Bob Jones telling Bentley the prophetic movement was started by a female angel may be more revealing than one would first think. Bentley has a view of the supernatural that has crippled him from understanding the simple truth from Scripture. So he has replaced it with his own revelations and supernatural experiences that exceed even those of the apostles. Bentley’s entire ministry is focused on angels and false revelatory visions and visitations; from this come the healings. Bob Jones was a Vineyard minister (one of the original Kansas City “prophets”). Jones was removed from the Vineyard for sexual impropriety. He had women strip so they could “stand naked before the Lord.” Two women came forward in 1991 and told Vineyard leaders that Jones had used his prophetic authority to touch and fondle them sexually. (Roy Rivenburg, “A Question of Faith,” Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1992, sec. El, p. 8.) Jones admitted it and was removed from ministry. While Jones appears repentant, in the same time period he was prophesying that Jesus told him that a certain portion of the end-time church will be an immortal end-time army. Bentley says of Jones “My friend…Bob Jones [is] a gifted, mature seer-prophet.” Jones has been influential on Bentley and this so-called miracle revival in Lakeland. On Bob Jones’ Web site we read of him being sick. (“Update on Bob Jones,” April 12, 2008.) ”We still need to have a fistula placed in his arm in the event he should need dialysis in the future. However, we believe the Lord gave us a miracle and will continue to heal the kidneys (sic) and totally restore his health. He is gaining strength daily. We must be good stewards of the miracle He gave us. There were many long and exhausting days due to effects of the chemicals used to cleanse the bloodstream. Many times Bob was ill and very weak after dialysis. In the process of healing, he lost about 55 pounds, however his lungs are clear and his vitals are normal.” They ask “to pray for his kidney function to increase.” The most recent report: “Our last visit to the kidney doctor was a great success. Bob’s kidney function continues to improve; the creatinine level dropped to 3.1 so the doctor removed the perm-cath from his chest last Wednesday.” (May 6, 2008) Why didn’t Jones go to Todd Bentley and be instantly, miraculously healed, as we hear others are? Isn’t this what is taking place at the Lakeland meetings? The answer should be obvious: Just like the faith healers, when they are sick (and this is serious) they go to a doctor, not to their fellow gifted healers. They know better. What does Bob Jones believe and teach? Follwing are just a few examples. He had this to say about Joel’s army: “They will move into things of the supernatural that no one has ever moved in before. Every miracle, sign and wonder that has ever been in the Bible - they’ll move in it consistently. They’ll move in the power that Christ did. Every sign and wonder that’s ever been will be many times in the last days. They themselves will be that generation that raised up to put death itself underneath their feet and to glorify Christ in every way. . .and the Church that is raising up in the government will be the head and the covering for them. So that that glorious church might be revealed in the last days because the Lord Jesus is worthy to be lifted up by a church that has reached the full maturity of the god-man!” (Visions & Revelations, Fall 1988.) Jones describes his hands turning blue, and then turning purple: “When that happens that means you’ve got some incense that’s gone up. You’ve got some intercession that’s gone up that Papa’s saying yes to.” Jones also states that his alleged healing power came upon him when he was struck by lightning: ”It was about ’76. A bolt of lightning. I was inside, I didn’t have my wires grounded in the basement down there, and I grabbed ahold of the refrigerator, and lightning hit the wires outside, and a great blue flame came in. And a ball of fire danced all over that basement, and didn’t hurt me. But from that time forth my hands worked funny…. Anytime God is going to start a fire, he starts it with lightning. And you can take a little of that fire and impart it wherever it is needed. And it will start a God’s fire” (Bob Jones, Visions and Revelations, 1988.) ”Bob Jones was told that the general level of prophetic revelation in the church was about 65% accurate at this time. Some are only about 10% accurate, a very few of the most mature prophets are approaching 85% to 95% accuracy. Prophecy is increasing in purity, but there is a still a long way to go for those who walk in this ministry. This is actually grace for the church now, because 100% accuracy in this ministry would bring a level of accountability to the church which she is too immature to bear at this time.” (Rick Joyner, “The Prophetic Ministry,” Morningstar Prophetic Newsletter. Vol. 3, No. 2, Page 2.) This is probably the most dangerous of his statements. He is saying that God gives us false prophecy because we are immature, unable to be accountable. It’s just like the Devil to turn truth on its head. What about the Old Testament prophets? Did they not have 100% accuracy in prophecy? And so when these “prophets” miss it (even 10%, although it’s far more) his excuse is that it’s God’s fault, not theirs. Mike Bickle and Bob Jones relate the story of an angel revealing that God would appear to Bickle in the form of another person named “Don” in a vision or in a dream. Bickle said the vision eventually took place, and part of its message was to show him that “Jesus appears in thousands of different faces to portray something,” Bickle said, “He was trying to say, ‘I’m your friend, I am your familiar friend and I’m going to show you all things so you can move in the power of the Spirit’” (Mike Bickle with Bob Jones, Visions and Revelations, transcript, series of five tapes, Fall,1988 p.53-60.) “I am your familiar friend” may be more like a familiar spirit, considering the teachings that have come forth and the acJune 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 21 Point of Interest – Continued tivity that took place. This next statement is proof that this whole revival is orchestrated by the same men who brought it to the church over 20 years ago through the Vineyard: “And now my government is in place, and in a time of great stress I shall bring forth my next step, for Toronto was a step, Brownsville was another step; My next step will be my glory, and signs like you have never seen before...” (The Remnant Seed”, a prophecy by Bob Jones at Hamilton, Ontario, March, 1998). Can a revival be genuine when you have the same players that are involved in continual false prophecies, false teaching and other false revivals? I think not. Florida Outpouring on May 5, 2008: “Paul Cain received numerous, recurring visions and words about the coming faceless generation healing revival. Todd flew Paul Cain in specifically to release that prophecy again and bless the revival. Jim Goll also spoke over the revival as well. It was a powerful night.” So they are trying to make a connection to Paul Cain’s prophecy that has recurred for over 30 years. Certainly he is not a good source, and it shows the discernment of the people involved who honored his false vision which is all about the Latter Rain. Incidentally, Bob Jones called Cain “the most anointed prophet that’s in the world today.” The Holy Spirit will always show what is false to a believer walking in the light. He will not bear witness to the false. But it can take effort and perseverance for one to get through the trappings of the shadows to the light. Paul Cain was a prophet above prophets among his association of fellow “prophets” who had elevated him to the status of a super prophet. ( HYPERLINK “http://www.letusreason. org/Latrain5.htm” www.letusreason.org/ Latrain5.htm) He is one of the few that knew William Branham personally and participated in the Latter Rain movement of the 50s. Paul Cain considered William Branham the greatest prophet in the 20th century. Several years ago it was revealed that Cain was an alcoholic and a practicing homosexual. This was revealed by his own friends – the prophets who did not know this for years when it was with them, right under their own noses. Much as he did to Cain’s discipler, William Branham, “the Angel of the Lord” visited Cain for the first time when he was 8, and then years later Jesus materialized in his car and said he was jealous of his fiancé, and told him not to marry. His theology is Latter Rain/ Manifest Sons of God/dominionism. His most important teaching of all is that about Joel’s 22 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Army. Cain said, “Many years ago…I have came to the crossroads of life and I saw a vision of an illuminated billboard on which was written: ‘Joel‘s army in training.’” This became his primary message. In 1987 Cain met with the leadership of Kansas City Fellowship and they received him as a father – a prophet over prophets. It was at this time that he also met John Wimber, and the Kansas City prophets became accepted into the Vineyard movement. At a meeting in Lakeland, Paul Cain was given a place on the platform. It is reported that he publicly said that there were “false rumors” about him and that he had lived a “chaste life.” Bentley did not correct Cain, who basically lied about his indiscretions. (see www.letusreason.org/Latrain25.htm) The teaching of Joel’s Army from both Bob Jones and Paul Cain (and others) also finds itself in Bentley’s teachings. On the Freshfire Web site we read: BECOME A JOEL’S ARMY INTERN! • Under the Leadership of Revivalist/Evangelist, Todd Bentley • Impartation and prayer time with Todd Bentley Question and answer times • Impartation is from the Latter Rain teaching • Servant hood weekly soaking,* evangelism • September: Miracles Signs and Wonders • Conference • Discipleship From time to time Todd will have weekly associate ministries and friends “blast you” in the Holy Ghost.** Interns will sit in on Supernatural Training Centre classes once a week outreach *(“Soaking” is an unbiblical way to receive the Holy Spirit that was practiced in the Vineyard) **Blast you with the Holy Ghost! – it is doubtful this can be the Holy Spirit who is called “the Comforter.” One cannot be trained to learn to impart the Holy Spirit or enter the supernatural. This is all far removed from the teachings of the apostles in the Bible.) Spiritual Manipulations and Manifestations “Last year God asked me an unusual question: ‘Todd, are you ready to pray for people to receive a double portion?’ Then, as I sought the Lord for direction in 2008, He brought that question to my remembrance as He said: ‘2008 is the year of the double portion.’” (Todd Bentley, “Prophetic Directions for 2008,” The Elijah List, January 23, 2008.) NOWHERE in the New Testament do we read of the anointing being transmitted from one person to another person, nor do the apostles teach of any “double-portion” anointing. This was related to only one prophet – Elisha. This is straight out of the heretical Latter Rain teachings and has absolutely nothing to do with the real anointing that already resides in every believer. On one video we hear Bentley say, “God told me there was going to be a special anointing tonight. I saw an angel today that is going to visit the children. There’s a glory moving into the room – a drunken glory – heavy, heavy weight glory, smokin’ glory, shekinah glory.” Frankly, when I hear this kind of foolish talk I fear for the person. What did people do when they had a glimpse of the true glory? Moses was hidden in a cleft of rocks only to see God’s passing by. In the New Testament John was astonished and fell as dead. I do not find anyone in the Bible using crass language like that of Bentley and his ilk. If you are trained by the true Word of God you should be able to tell if someone is sound and speaking according to the Holy Spirit by what they teach and how they speak. If you can’t tell, or are unsure, then get a biblical education, for it may mean your spiritual survival in the times we live. “Last night was a tremendous explosion of miracles over cell phones! They were coming in so fast that they could barely keep up with the testimonies!! report from Stephen Strader, pastor of Ignited Church says this move of God is the Spirit of Elijah.” The Supernatural Realms of Heaven: “Experiencing God in the Prophetic” is an advertisement of a new school by Todd Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries. It combines teaching on prophetic ministry with instruction on how to engage the revelatory realm of Heaven. “During this course Todd will teach and impart prophetic gifting to each student in faith that takes this course. Todd’s goal is to share and impart everything that he has learned and experienced in the realm of the prophetic. (EARLY BIRD - $110) Todd shares many of his prophetic experiences and teaches how to activate spiritual senses. …Saints, get ready to fly like an eagle into the supernatural realm! The School of the Supernatural Realms of Heaven will help launch you there!” Angels Everywhere “In our ministry over the last year, this angel has come frequently and on many different occasions. When He comes I get a gift – the ability to diagnose people’s sicknesses with my left hand. At times this angel brings words of knowledge; I get very accurate details from God including people’s first, middle and last names as well as nicknames, the year they were injured, the Point of Interest – Continued color of their vehicle and the state they are from. (Todd Bentley, Angelic Hosts.) The gifts of the Holy Spirit do not operate in this way. Nor do we get the gifts from angels. Now let’s listen to the interview by Patricia King on “Extreme Prophetic” interview: “Todd, I remember years ago, you gave me a phone call and you said, ‘Hey, I‘ve just been soaking with Bob Jones and I‘ve gone up into the “third heaven.”’” Bentley explains: “The first time I met Bob was actually in Grants Pass, Oregon. We were sitting in a restaurant and I was really hungry. I knew Bob was a real seer prophet. I thought, ‘Lord I’m going to get an impartation.’ I‘ve been having all these encounters and all these visions and experiences already soaking, but I thought, ‘Lord I need to talk to somebody that’s been walking in this – that‘s really a senior prophet.’ So when I met Bob I thought, ‘Lord, I’m going to get an impartation.’ And I remember talking with Bob in a restaurant about going into the heavens, and what it was, and we were talking about the ‘third heaven,’ going into the immediate abode, into that place, the dwelling place of God. And I thought, ‘That’s awesome!’ I was hungry for it too; I wanted more! ‘Cause up until that point, sovereignly, God was just visiting me. And I was just waiting in His presence, and sovereignly, God was visiting me. And Bob said to me, he said, ‘We can go right now!’ And I said, ‘What do you mean, we can go right now?! We can make the decision right now and enter into that realm of the spirit?’ And he said, ‘Sure we can! Don‘t you have faith, boy?!’” So Bob Jones is a senior prophet to Bentley who sought an impartation by him. Big mistake. It was God who brought John and Paul to Heaven. We cannot initiate this on our own. Bentley now teaches that people can visit Heaven any time they want. This is utterly false. The Bible teaches that only the apostles were communicated a revelation of Heaven, not regular Christians. It was because they were the ones commissioned to teach the churches and write the Scriptures for us. The interview continues: King: “Well, I remember when you [Bentley] were telling me about it, I got so hungry for it. And right after that, Bob was coming to a conference that we were having…I was going to just ask him all kinds of questions about this third heaven. I didn‘t know, because I wanted to know. I wanted to experience God in a new way, and I think we all do; we‘re all so hungry for Him, right? But I hadn‘t caught yet, because you had told me about the experience but not the faith dimension, so I was just still thinking, ‘Sovereignty.’ God’s sovereignly going to move, take me out, well, whatever. So I‘m asking Bob questions, and Bob, you said, ‘Well, I do my raptures every day!’ I said, ‘What do you mean, your raptures every day?’ He said, ‘I go up every day!’ And I said, ‘You go up EVERY DAY! I‘d love to go up every day!’ And he said, ‘Well, it’s by faith.’” Does a person’s FAITH make something like this happen? The faith dimension? Where’s that in Scripture? Jones goes to heaven every day, and he teaches others this! Someone who says this may not go there at all unless they repent. This is blasphemous. Where did the apostles teach any of this? They didn’t, but the Latter Rain proponents can because they are doing even greater miracles than the apostles! Impartations are unbiblical, especially seeking one. One cannot pass the Holy Spirit to another; He is God, and He is sovereign. Grants Pass comes up again. Todd Bentley’s angels are the same ones that appeared to Branham, to John G. Lake ( he endorses the healing rooms), and others. ”I first saw the angel called ‘Healing Revival’ on December 5 of 2000 in Grant’s Pass. The angel came to me again in Albany the next February. He stood in the church service with his body going through the ceiling of the church. Then the Lord told me the angel’s name and that he was the same angel I saw in Grant’s Pass earlier. God also revealed to me that this angel was involved in the ministry of John Lake, William Branham, and John Knox in Scotland. This angel, the Lord said, is from the North West Healing Revival and is manifesting again as a sign that God is restoring the Voice of Healing revival and opening up the ancient wells. “In our ministry over the last year, this angel has come frequently and on many different occasions. When He comes I get a gift – the ability to diagnose people’s sicknesses with my left hand. At times this angel brings words of knowledge; I get very accurate details from God including people’s first, middle and last names as well as nicknames, the year they were injured, the color of their vehicle and the state they are from. I believe the angel showed up in Albany as a sign that God was endorsing what was taking place and that it was opening up a healing well. Everywhere I have seen this angel the miracles continue after I leave and a healing well is established in that church and in that city. When that angel visits, we have another John 5 Pool of Bethesda experience as God releases His approval.”(ANGELIC HOSTS Revivalist Todd Bentley) Apart from questioning the validity of what God told him, if this is the same angel involved in John Lake’s ministry (I have never read of him referring to an angel) or William Branham’s, then we must go to the Scriptures and see if there were angels involved in the healing ministry of the apostles. The answer is no, there were not. So then we have a biblical problem of determining from what source this angel came. Bentley besmirches John Knox’s name by including him with these men and this angel. As far as the angel in William Branham’s ministry is concerned, if this is so then we now have validated a demonic connection from none other than Bentley Himself. For Branham denied essential tenets of the faith because of his angel’s influence. Furthermore, Branham believed this to be the Angel of the Lord that appeared to Moses (same as Paul Cain believed). Now we have the biblical problems escalating because Jesus was the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, and once He became a man, the Angel of the Lord no longer appears. Why? Because He is no longer coming as a messenger – He became man. Bentley seems to have angels follow him and speak to him nearly everywhere he goes. “Recently, I had an angel come to me in Kansas City. He said, ‘Todd, my name is Promise, and I‘ve come to bring the fulfillment of God‘s promises.’” I thought believers were given the Holy Spirit for this. Experiences described by Bentley brought on by an angel are unbiblical, and there are so many that it may be beyond all the miracles in the Bible put together. ”In three occasions over the past couple of years I’ve had a visitation from the Lord in which I’ve seen the angel of finance. Every time this happens (in our meetings) there is an incredible financial breakthrough; something is opened up in Heaven. It invades the earth, and people respond by giving generously. (http://www.freshfire.ca/index.php?Act =read&status=teaching&Id=236&bid=) Bentley sees the angel that is going to visit the children, and he’s seen this angel only two other times: (http://video.aol.com/ video-detail/todd-bentley-florida-healing-revival-1/1818314898?icid=acvsv1) I’m concerned that the angel that Todd has been encountering is let loose to the children, and they, too, are overtaken by the same influence. ”I’m asking God to release the seer anointing to you as you read this article so that you can even see the angelic hosts. Today I want to focus the teaching on the angelic realm and how you can release angels to fulfill God’s word. Recently, I had several daily visitations of angels which lasted for weeks. Since the beginning of this year I’ve also sensed an increase in the presence of angels in our meetings.” (Todd June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 23 Bentley, “Opening Our Eyes to the Angelic Realm,” http://www.elijahlist.com/words/ display_word.html?ID=1785.) There is no such teaching of our releasing angels to fulfill God’s Word. God sends the angels, man has no control over these angelic beings that answer to God. Seeing angels day in and out (like Benny Hinn) is neither spiritually healthy nor true. But this is the power behind Bentley’s ministry, he is caught up in an infatuation with angels and has made contact. Bentley says, “Let angels come right now to win souls in the North, East, South, and West of my city. Father I release the angels.…It is important that we release the angels if we don’t, angels can be bound out of the battle. The Devil can be prevailing in his darkness in a region until we begin to release, bind and loose in heaven, and begin to pray to the Father to release the angelic hosts that we need as reinforcements.” (Todd Bentley, Fresh Fire Ministries, “Teachings,” http://www.freshfire. ca/teaching.asp) No Christian can be taught to summon angels (it is demons that obey man). One can twist the words of God about them serving us, but one cannot find any example of any apostle or believer summoning angels or ordering them around as Bentley teaches (go do a study on angels). This teaching is in the Kabbalah, in the occult, and it is also found in word-faith teachings. The angel in Daniel did his mission and overcame the fallen angel over Persia without Daniel even knowing there was a battle going on. Those who have attended this revival bring the “anointing” back with them just as it was done in Toronto. People who go to these meetings and get the anointing begin to see angels. While this may make the Hunters happy, this is a very dangerous precedent of which many people are unaware. None of this has anything a Christian who wants to grow spiritually should pursue. Paranormal experiences can seem to be of God when they are not. This kind of spirituality makes a person dysfunctional, and eventually have a dissonance with reality. The more a person experiences it, the stronger the demonic element gets until he is taken over. Angel feathers, gold dust, diamonds falling, seeing angels – even female angels – constantly, trips to Heaven at your disposal, new revelation, extrabiblical and even unbiblical revelation. What can be said of this ministry is, “Participants beware.” PERTINENT “ Following are some of the significant events in Jewish history that occurred in the month of December: December 1, 1909: The founding of Deganiya Alef, the first kibbutz in Israel (then known as Palestine). December 17, 1862: General U. S. Grant ordered Jews to be expelled from the Department of Tennessee December 17, 1914: The Turks expelled Jews from Tel Aviv, sending them to Egypt. December 18, 1774: Empress Maria Theresa expelled all Jews from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia. December 22, 1970: S.S. commander of Treblinka sentenced to life imprisonment. December 23, 1867: Emancipation of the Jews of Hungary. December 25, 1977: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat met in Ismailia, Egypt. December 30, 1947: 40 Jewish workers were massacred at the Haifa refineries. December 31, 1963: Israel’s first desalination plant opened in Eilat. http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/realtime/54/02 Test Your Yiddishkeit 1. Is the name of the holiday Purim derived from • (a) an East End Londoner, who for some reason felt sorry for Haman (who was hanged on his own gallows) and declared, “Poor ‘im” or • (b) the fact that the villian of the story cast lots to determine when to annihilate the Jewish people living in Persia 2. Is Megillah • (a) the first name of a 1960’s cartoon character (last name Gorilla) or • (b) the Hebrew word for “scroll” referring to the Book of Esther, also used colloquially to indicate “the whole story” 3. For whom is the Jewish women’s organization Hadassah named? • (a) a 17th century Jewish hairdresser or • (b) Queen Esther (because Hadassah was her Hebrew name, and what her uncle Mordy called her) 4. Is a grogger • (a) an elderly Jewish man who has a hard time waking up in the morning or • (b) a noisemaker that is twirled to drown out the name of Haman each time it is pronounced during the reading of the Purim story http://jewsforjesus.org/publications/newsletter/1998_03/yiddishkeit Do you know who was the first Jewish person to come to the United States and why he came? The first Jewish person to set sail for America did not stow away on the Mayflower with the Puritans. In 1584, Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Walter Raleigh to the Virginia territory to look for gold, silver and copper. Raleigh asked Joachim Gaunse, a Jewish metallurgist and mining expert, to take part in the expedition. Thus in 1585, Joachim Gaunse became the first known Jew to set foot on what is now American soil. http://jewsforjesus.org/publications/newsletter/1998_03/yiddishkeit 24 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly ” Answers 1 thru 4 are the letter (b) FYI Jacob Prasch Intelligence Report This past week The biblical basis for understanding God’s intention for marriage is found in Genesis 2. The human race began with the creation of a heterosexual couple—Adam and Eve. The creation of Adam and Eve (male and female) was the foundation of human civilization and their union the first marriage. Genesis 2:24 states: This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Marriage is an institution of God designed as a lifelong covenant relationship between God’s command to Adam and Eve was “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28). a man and woman (Matt. 19:1-6). God’s design for procreation demanded the union of a man and woman. This is another indication that God’s intention for marriage was exclusively a heterosexual union. A Bad Week, A Mad Week, And A Sad Week The Apostle Paul confronted a secular culture where homosexuality was accepted and endorsed by influential writers and leaders. In contrast to the acceptance of homosexuality by many in the first century A.D., Paul referred to the practice as “sexual impurity,” “unnatural,” “shameless acts,” and “perversion” (Rom. 1:24-27). Paul included “homosexuals” among those who will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:910). Homosexuality is also included in a list of sins in 1 Timothy 1:10. By James Jacob Prasch A Bad Week ˆ California Although 6-7 million Californians voted to uphold heterosexual marriage, cheered by the mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco, the California Supreme Court ordered the legalization of same-sex marriage in that state. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will not oppose the decision or seek its overturn. As in Massachusetts, a state Supreme Court usurped the power of the legislature, defied the democratic will of the electorate, and imposed a law from the bench courtesy of an agenda-driven judicial-fascism normalizing the unnatural. It is little wonder. Another grade-B‚ Hollywood-movie-actor-turned-Republican-Governor of California, named Ronald Reagan, who went on to become President of the United States, appointed a pro-abortion judge, Sandra Day O’Connor, to the US Supreme Court. This was after promising naïve Christians he was pro-life in order to con them into voting for him. O’Connor, then wrote the court’s decision ordering the Ten Commandments out of the Judicial building in Alabama, again in defiance of the democratic will of the governed, nearly 80% of whom wanted the Ten commandments displayed in the courts. It was the Earl Warren Republican Supreme Court that banned prayer in schools, and the Warren Burger Republican Supreme Court that ruled for abortion in Roe v Wade. It is bad for Christians to identify the Gospel with any political party, especially when the Republican Party is just as godless and corrupt as the Democratic Party, and when Republican politicians are just as much godless liars and hypocrites as Democrats. It was a Bad Week. A Mad Week -- Great Britain After voting to allow the creation of hybrid embryos that are part human DNA and part animal DNA, The British Parliament declined to lower the gestation age for non-therapeutic abortion. What was once science fiction is now science, courtesy of Her Majesty’s govern- ment. Embryos that are literally part human and part animal, will be killed in order to harvest hybrid stem cells. Even when all stem-cell advances have been perfectly achievable from stem cells harvested from 100% pure human placenta and embryonic umbilical tissue and from fetal tissue acquired from natural miscarriages. Hybrid monsters are being artificially procreated in test tubes (mixing „seed‰ - Deuteronomy 22:9). Where will it end? How long will it be until one is eventually implanted and allowed to be born? Will it be a human? Where will it get its spirit? Will its soul be animal or human? Indeed, I am increasingly forced to wonder if politicians are animal or human. They appear to be human, but seem to have some of the DNA of swine. Not content with this however, the British Parliament, in keeping abortion legal up to 24 weeks, absolutely refuses to face the scientific and medical fact that some premature babies have survived as young as 17 weeks after conception. Neonatology, ante-natal medicine, and genetic medicine, are progressing all the time. So is incubation technology. The British government of Gordon Brown and his Labour Party are allowing the killing of human embryos at 24 weeks on one floor of a hospital, while on the floor below, others, in some cases up to 7 weeks younger, are being kept alive. This is not only wicked, it is obvious madness. IT WAS A MAD WEEK A Sad Week After his father and his secretary of state created an Iranian- and Syrian-controlled Hezbollah de facto terrorist state in southern Lebanon, George Bush Jr. and his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, have created an Iranian- and Syrian-controlled Hamas de facto terrorist state in Gaza. The Bush family are business partners with the Wahabbist Saudi Arabians in the Carlyle group, and are political pawns of international oil interests. These same Saudi Wahabbists persecute Christians and fund radical Islamic fun- damentalism that engenders Moslem terror. After 9/11 the Bush administration continued the policy of handing out express visas to Saudi Wahabbists to enter America even though most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi Wahabbists. Observing the facts, some would call this treason. Every year since 9/11, Bush has celebrated Ramadan in the White House to honor Islam, and has placed a Koran, which says “God has no Son‚” in the White House. (You cannot bring a Bible into Saudi Arabia.) After a US army sniper used a Koran for target practice, the Bush administration ordered a US military commander in Iraq to appear on TV with Moslem clerics and kiss a Koran as an act of public repentance, thus paying homage to a book that says “God has no Son.” If the judgment of God falls on President Bush and his wicked administration it will be easy to see why. During the same week, Bush and Rice were in Israel, using Israel’s 60th Re-birthday as a nation in fulfillment if biblical prophecy, to call for Israel to forfeit even more of its God-given homeland to Islam. Bush and Rice then flew to Saudi Arabia to beseech the Wahabbist King to increase oil production in order to bring escalating prices down. The Saudis refused, as their profits soar and they buy up more and more of the American economy at bargain prices due to the weak dollar under Bush, including equity in media companies so they can influence the reporting of the news. As fundamentalist mosques are constructed all over America with the blessings of Bush and Rice, not a single church can be built in Saudi Arabia. It was a disgrace to watch the president of the United States, virtually on his knees, begging the arch financier of a radical brand of fundamentalist Islam that inherently breeds support for terror, promotes anti-Semitism, and persecutes Christians. It was as if Bush was on his knees licking the camel dung from the Moslem’s sandals. Admittedly, this may be exactly what Bush and Rice deserve. But has America so fallen from its biblical heritage that it now deserves no better than June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 25 Jewish American History to be beholden to a heathen nation with an evil religion? After he finished begging and licking, Bush’s Saudi master sent him back to Washington empty handed. A Jewish American Hero IT WAS A SAD WEEK To this add the tragic events in Burma/Myanmar where a junta aligned to the Chinese regime in Beijing refused to allow emergency aid to its own people, and an earthquake in China left 5 million homeless. I personally believe it is God’s judgment on China for its role in supporting the unspeakable actions of the governments of Myanmar and of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and of the debauchery in Sudan. China‚s persecution of Christians will invoke the wrath of God, just as divine wrath is going to be soon unleashed on the Moslem world for its hatred of Israel and persecution of Christians. All of this was in just one week – last week. Moreover, as the fallen world becomes sicker, and more twisted and depraved, so much of the Christian Church becomes likewise more and more twisted and depraved from the demented replay of the Toronto & Pensacola deceptions now underway in Lakeland, Florida, with the ridiculous hype artistry and biblical ignorance of Todd Bentley, to the Purpose-Driven Lie of Rick Warren, to the ecumenical deception of Chuck Colson, to the apostasy of Brian McLaren’s Emergent Church. Last week, Franklin Graham, head of Billy Graham Crusades, turned against Christians in sport‚ saying that Christians should not preach the Gospel at the Beijing Olympics. If the Church has lost its mind, what should we expect from the world? With a backslidden Church, how can nations be otherwise? With scum in our pulpits, what else can we expect to have in our governments? Quite a week. Yet the worst week, which will also be the best week, is yet to come. The 70th week of Daniel will yield more badness, more madness, and more sadness than all of the other weeks in all of human history combined. But, ironically, it will also herald the most gladness, eclipsing the badness, madness, and sadness. While that week will be the most bad, the most mad, and the most sad, it will also be the most glad. It is this same week that Jesus will come. May we be ready. Yes, it is getting bad, it is getting mad, and it is getting sad. But Jesus said that when we see these things happening we should lift up our heads for our redemption draws near. 26 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Haym Solomon (or Salomon) (1740–1785) was a prime financier of the American side during the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain. A Jew, he was born the son of a rabbi in Leszno (Lissa), Poland. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Solomon came to New York from Poland in 1772 and joined the Sons of Liberty. In 1776 he was captured by the British, but he used his knowledge of German to convince his Hessian jailer to let him out. It was during this period of incarceration that he contracted tuberculosis. After this he joined the American forces evacuating New York at the time. Haym Solomon was a merchant. He traveled south with Washington’s Army and eventually settled in Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia he married Rachael Franks, the daughter of loyalist merchant and slave trader David Franks, of Philadelphia. They kept one slave, a young woman who helped Mrs. Solomon in their home. Solomon was an astute merchant and auctioneer who succeeded in accumulating a fortune, which he subsequently devoted to the use of the American government during the American Revolution. For example, he personally supported various members of the Continental Congress during their stay in Philadelphia, including James Madison. Acting as the patriot he was, he never asked for repayment. Solomon also negotiated the sale of a majority of the war aid from France and Holland, selling bills of exchange to American merchants. A Key Figure Solomon became an associate of prominent Philadelphian Robert Morris, a member of Congress with close ties to Benjamin Franklin. Morris brokered many financial transactions that helped the revolutionary cause gather steam early on. By the winter of 1780-81 the colonial government was broke and Morris was appointed superintendent of finance. Solomon entered into more than seventy-five financial transactions with Morris between 1781 and 1784. He was almost the only broker for the sale of bills of exchange -- bonds sold to provide funds for the war effort and salaries of top government officeholders. Solomon may have backed many of these with his own assets. Moreover, he was the principal broker for subsidies from France and Holland to help the American independence effort, and turned over his commissions on these transactions to the cause as well. He was also named an agent for merchandise that was seized by privateers loyal to the colonists, which he sold to help finance the war. Records show that Solomon advanced over $211,000 to Morris when the latter was superintendent of finance, and entered into other transactions with the government to the tune of over $353,000. There were also several promissory notes totaling $92,000. In all, the sum that Solomon advanced to help the war cause was over $658,000, an amount which was later recognized by Congress as valid. Some of these transactions were in specie (Revolutionary paper), and as such declined considerably in value after the war. The loans that Solomon advanced to men such as future presidents James Madison and James Monroe were assumed to have been settled between the parties. Solomon maintained his Philadelphia brokerage throughout these years, and was also a devout practitioner of his faith. He was active in the city’s Congregation Mikveh Israel, and once appeared before the Board of Censors to speak in opposition to a religious oath required of civil servants designed to keep those of the Jewish faith from such jobs. His firm began to experience financial losses after a 1783 recession, and he planned to relocate to New York City in 1785. According to one story, he petitioned the government for repayment, and was sent a sheaf of documents on a Saturday, the Jewish holy day. Solomon would not sign them because of the Sabbath laws against transacting business. On Monday he fell gravely ill. Other sources note that he had not yet tabulated the debts and presented his claim officially. What is certain is that Solomon died on January 6, 1785 in Philadelphia, a death attributed to tuberculosis. When Solomon died, it was discovered he had been speculating in various currencies and debt instruments. His family sold them at market rates, which had greatly depreciated because of the weakened state of the American economy in the 1780s. Subsequent generations misunderstood his truly patriotic actions and appealed to Congress for more money, but were turned down twice. A myth grew that he had lent the young United States government about $600,000, and at his death about $400,000 of this amount had not been repaid. This sum was added to what he really had lent to statesmen and others while performing public duties and trusts. Jacob Bader Marcus wrote in Early American Jewry that the sum owed to Solomon was $800,000. That amount in 1785 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $39,264,947,368.42 (using relative share of GDP which indicates purchasing power) in 2005 US dollars. Ruth Nessim Israel Update from CJFM Report for June 2008 A Day Out In Palestine Entrance To Bethlehem Myself with Abdullah (right of picture) So much has happened since I last wrote that I thought I would bring you all up to date. Also, I forgot to mention one or two very interesting events in my last update, or perhaps there was no room to mention them! This morning I woke around 6 pm, having gone to sleep around midnight. As my mind reflected on the events of the day before, I found myself crying. I was obviously in some kind of delayed shock, asking myself if it really happened, or was it all a dream? I reached out for my camera, and yes, there it was, documented on film, as well as firmly implanted in my heart and soul. A few days ago I had needed a small set of shelves to tidy up the mound of CDs and videos which were piled about 4-5 feet high (one and a half meters) on my sitting room floor. To say the least, it was a mess. I knew where I could get such shelves, but the store was two hours away by car. So I prayed. The following day, I realized that my son David had gone to Tel-Aviv and would pass by the store on the way home. He is not known for his excess of patience, but I plucked up courage and asked him. He said he could not promise but would try, and if he couldn’t, he would donate his to me! The next day he arrived with these beautiful wooden shelves, put them together and then arranged all the CDs for me, and said it was a gift! “Well,” I thought, “that was a speedy answer to prayer. But Lord, I have tried to go twice to see Abdel Moti, and the situation was impossible. Please answer this prayer too.” On Shabbat we had a packed house again as many came to the meeting, including about seveb nonbelievers, one of whom asked us to hold the next meeting in her house, and even offered to provide the lunch! We are going to take her up on her offer for the next Shabbat meeting on 31st May. About 10:30 that evening, there was a phone call from Pastor Najeeb. He was travelling to Bethlehem on Monday, all the barriers were now open, and would I like to come?! I did not sleep too well on Sunday night, and felt quite unwell on Monday morning. Nevertheless, I was on the 8:06 train to Haifa, where I was picked up by Pastor Najeeb, and we were on our way. Israelis are not strictly allowed to go to Bethlehem, and the situation can turn volatile at any time. Then there was the little question of getting over the border and past the Israeli check points, never mind the Palestinians. Abdel Moti had left Jenin at 6 am, and his journey through the check points was, as we were to learn later, horrendous, apart from the fact that Israeli soldiers confiscated four bottles of olive oil and 10 kilos of cheese which he was bringing for us. They kindly left him with two bottles of olive oil. Before leaving Jerusalem, we picked up a recovering Arabic drug addict from an Arab village inside of Jerusalem. We entered Bethlehem through Bet Jalla, going the back way in. To our surprise, the Israeli soldier just waved us in, and before long there was the Palestinian flag waving in the breeze! Not far down the road, I spotted trucks with Palestinian flags and men sitting in the backs. I wondered aloud what that could be. “It’s the Palestinian army,” said Najeeb. “They are keeping order here.” We passed by, and they did not stop us on this occasion. It was reminiscent of scenes we see on the TV depicting the fighting in Beirut. However, it was otherwise very peaceful. We called in at the Christian bookstore, where we were served a delicious cup of mint tea, and waited for Abdel Moti to arrive. Here also another brother was waiting to see Pastor Najeeb. The wife of this gentle Palestinian brother, who was a preacher of the Gospel, had left him and their five children to live in Sweden. And although he begged her to come back for the children’s sake, and went to Sweden to try to win her over, she refused, and he is absolutely broken. My heart went out to him, and I promised that I would pray for him. After a while, Abdel Moti arrived, and we were happy to see each other. Then we all went out to lunch in a Bedouin tent. We had a super meal, as the Arabs know how to cook. Abdel Moti was looking very thin, and had obviously lost a lot of weight. Life is difficult for them. There is little to no work, and little to no hope for their future. Through Elias, the former drug addict, I was able to talk to Abdel Moti while Najeeb comforted the other brother. Abdel Moti related how his brother’s stay at Rambam hospiJune 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 27 Israel Update – Continued Ruth Nessim tal had given him a new perspective on life, and he learned things that he had never known before: that Jews and Arabs could love each other instead of hating. It was then that he began to read the New Testament. He is still amazed that we could care for him. He joined hands with us in prayer for the afflicted brother and his family. It was difficult to imagine that Abdel Moti was once a Hamas sympathizer, while his brother was an active fighter. Such are God’s ways. We went to the home of the brother whose wife left him, and met some of his lovely children. His home was set in its own grounds and was very beautiful and well kept, but his sadness was palpable. Before we left, he gave each of us a bottle of perfume made from Nard (New Testament “Spikenard” ) From there we went to see Pastor N. and his beautiful wife. They knew it was my birthday, so they ordered a delicious chocolate gateau with the words “Happy Birthday, Roote.” It also had candles, which I had to blow out, and they all sang “Happy Birthday.” The first piece of cake was given to me, and I gave it to Abdel Moti. I never in my life imagined that I would ever spend a birthday inside the Palestinian territories as a guest of honor, with a former Hamas man, and such lovely Palestinian Christians. They, too, have sat through crossfire, sandbagged their homes, and hoped for better times. We resolved to go on praying for each other and stretching out our hands in friendship. All too soon it was time for Abdel Moti to return to Jenin. A final hug, and he was gone, leaving me two bottles of olive oil and With Pastor N’s Wife Selwa My Birthday Cake some plums that look like cherries. I then sat and chatted to Selwa, the Pastor’s wife, and we both could feel that the Lord had brought us together for a purpose. It was two hearts united. We made our final farewells, and set out for home. On the way we were stopped by four Palestinian soldiers who saw our Israel License plates. “Where are you from?” Pastor Najeeb greeted them cheerily in Arabic, and told them that we are from Haifa. “Where are you going?” “Just to visit friends.” They waved us on, and later we came to a bakery. As Najeeb disappeared into the bakery, two soldiers stationed themselves at the back and the front of the car, while another was seated on the opposite corner. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. They did not look at us, but their guns were at the ready. I was happy when Najeeb emerged from the bakery, entered the car, and we drove off! A few minutes later, we passed an Israeli checkpoint. After a brief question, we were allowed to move on, and within seconds we were back in Israel. We do not know how long the situation will remain calm, but it was good to visit our brothers and sisters over there and to get to know some of these other sheep who are not of the Jewish fold. Somehow I felt as though I had left part of my family over there, and yet they were buried in my heart. We have much more to tell you, but that can wait for next time. Please keep us all in your prayers that we may be found busy about the Master’s service, and please don’t forget Abdel Moti, that he may make a total commitment with his wife, as well as his brother. And remember also our Palestinian brothers and sisters, as well as our work with our Jewish friends. In Pastor N’s House May God bless you all. In Messiah’s love, Ruth 28 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Ruth Nessim Israel Update – Continued CJFM Report for May 2008-Continued Shalom Everybody! Greetings from Israel on her 60th Birthday. Of these 60 years, we have been here for 37, and have watched the tremendous development of the country, its survival in numerous wars and terror attacks, and the manifold increase in population in spite of all difficulties. We have also witnessed the increase in the numbers of believers, the growth in number and size of the congregations (in contrast to the shrinking numbers of believers in Europe!), and the incredible fact that Moslems are coming to the Lord in droves all over the Middle East. However, there remains much land still to be possessed, and persecution and opposition to believers is increasing, especially in Beer-Sheva and Arad, and also most recently in Akko (Acre) – or ancient Ptolemaeus – which is just down the road from us. One in four Israelis live in abject poverty, many more struggle. One in three children is hungry and often without basic necessities. We have a corrupt government, and probably the weakest ever, and peace is still a dream for both Israelis and the Palestinians, whose governments are even worse! With all this in mind, we continue with other believers to spread the word while it is still day, and before the night comes upon us. Our Shabbat meetings have been well attended, and the mid-week Bible studies, though smaller in number, have been blessed and fruitful. Among those who come to the mid-week studies is Cindy, who is now well over her operation and feels as though she is part of the family, although she has not yet committed herself. Last month our organization (CJF Ministries), arranged an eight-day conference in Eilat, which included a fabulous trip through the Negev, a dip in the Dead Sea, and a visit to Qumran and Ein Gedi. We had a wonderful week of fellowship with workers from all over the world, including the former Soviet Union, South America, North America, England and Israel. It was great to see what God is doing in various parts of the world, and that we belong to a large family. Returning to Nahariya, we learned that our beloved Shirley, our tea maker and translator, had been called Home that very morning. She was longing to go, but has left a big gap in our fellowship. There were many believers at her funeral, many tears, but wonderful words of love and encouragement from her family, for whom she had been an example. The highlight of the month was the Passover celebration. We crammed 26 people into our festively dressed sitting room with tables decked in blue and white and beautiful flowers. The Menu (apart from the mandatory hard boiled eggs, bitter herbs, salt water, and horse radish representing the tears and hard labors of our forefathers in the land of Egypt, and Kharoset (representing the mud with which our forefathers made the bricks there) and other ceremonial delicacies: Hors D’oeuvre: chopped liver and chopped herrings First Course: Chicken Soup and Kneidelach (dumplings made from matza meal and eggs) Second Course: Stuffed Chicken (provided by Arab Cooks), Arab vine leaves, roast potatoes, sweet carrots, salads. Third Course: fruit and non leavened cakes Of course there were the four ceremonial cups of wine, and after supper the ceremony of partaking of the broken matza and the wine, from which the communion service is taken. This, however, was only part of the Passover! Of the 26 people present, two were Lebanese refugees and another six were Arab brothers and sisters from Haifa. The men all wore traditional Jewish head coverings (kippot or yarmulkes). Also present were a number of Jewish friends; a retired Jewish doctor from London and his wife Cindy; Lydia and Shimon, a Holocaust survivor from Holland brought by the daughter of the people who had hidden him; and a young Kibbutznik. All of these Jewish friends were overwhelmed by the presence of the kippot-wearing Arabs, and the obvious joy and blessing which was flowing. After all was finished, Shimon and an Arab brother named Carlos were hugging each other. Several expressed that this was the best Passover they had ever experienced, and their utter amazement that such a thing could be. The doctor’s wife said, “I know it was sad that Albert died, but all this has happened as a result, and its only a beginning.” The blessing and sweetness of this Passover lingered for days. This has also been a time of many visitors, with friends from England, Scotland, Germany, and America – sometimes so many that we had to board two in son David’s house. (He very kindly offered to help us out!) A most interesting visitor was a man originally from Egypt, a Coptic Christian, who came to faith in the States, joined a Messianic assembly, and has become a friend of Israel! He flew back to participate in a Passover in North Carolina. We are still expecting a number of visitors before May and early June have passed! We continue also our program of visitation, hoping shortly to take Old Shoshana out to lunch, as we have had little time to see her lately. Cindy comes anyway; she will not allow us not to see her! And shortly we hope to try again to get into Bethlehem and visit Abdel Moti June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 29 Israel Update – Continued from Jenin. Let’s hope the situation will remain quiet! Please pray about this. We have been able to give a Jesus DVD to our Moslem gardener, and friends from England have put us in touch with a Druse man who is open to the Gospel. Please ask the Lord to open doors into these unreached people’s homes and hearts. We have also had much heartbreak this month, many sleepless nights, and almost a loss of vision and purpose which grieved us deeply. We cannot divulge any details, but we ask prayer for healing for all concerned. We know we do not fight against flesh and blood, and that this battle is the LORD’s. We thank all of you for your prayers and gifts and interest in Israel. Can you take to heart also our cousins and neighbors, that God will also open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel, and that as Jewish and Arab believers we can present a united front for Yeshua. Keep praying for Abdel Moti and his brother who is in need of a new leg as well as a new heart. He can hardly feed his eight children, and needs about $30,000 dollars for a new leg prosthesis. God bless you all, and thanks again for being with us in this fight. With our warm greetings in Yeshua, Ruth, Avi and Esther. Once again, our phone numbers and e-mail addresses are: Home: +972 4 982-6932 Fax: + 972 4 982-6635 Mobile: +972 544-914 017 E-Mail: [email protected] or [email protected] NEWS ITEM ) Connecting the Dots . . . . . US government supporting Islamic colonization schools in American cities by Bill Wilson KIN Senior Analyst The Fairfax, Virginia, board of supervisors has unanimously renewed the lease of county land and facilities within a few minutes of our nation’s capital to a flagship Saudi school that is highly suspected of teaching and promoting terrorist fundamentalism to some 900 students from kindergarten through high school. Supervisor Gerald Hyland, a liberal Democrat, said he didn’t have the impression that the Islamic Saudi Academy was “doing anything other than teaching young children in a fashion that is to be an example to others.” Hyland, who reviewed the school’s curriculum, did not say what type of example the school was trying to teach. He did, however, cop Islamic dualism by qualifying his statement: “I would be less than frank if I didn’t tell you that the curriculum does contain references to the Quran — which, if taken out of context and read literally, would cause some concern.” The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom recommended last October that the State Department shut down the school because it was thought to be teaching hatred against Jews and Christians and advocating violence. Of course, the director-general of the academy denies that its textbooks contain such information. He may be correct, as the only book that needs to contain that information is the Islamic holy book, the Koran. And he would not consider the Koran a textbook. Nina Shea of the Commission on Religious Freedom was quoted as saying that the problem is far deeper. She said, “We are very concerned, on a partial review of the Saudi Academy textbooks, about some passages that instruct that ‘jihad’ is ‘the pinnacle of Islam,’ that speak about impunity for murders of ‘polytheists’ or non-Wahhabis, that legitimize the murder of Muslim ‘apostates’ and that state the lives of only those non-Muslims living or working under Muslim rule are inviolable.” Shea said there are denunciations of specific religious groups as evil or enemies, and the textbooks blame Jews for divisions within Islam. There is an alarming number of such schools that are following the Muslim Brotherhood plan of Islamic colonization in the United States. The TIZA School is a charter public school in Inver Heights, Minnesota, that teaches Islamic tradition and is funded by U.S. taxpayers. This school didn’t fly the American flag because the schoolmaster said he didn’t know how to operate the flagpole. There are others like it in Ohio, Georgia and California. It is sad that unqualified and treasonous local and state officials allow this attack on our own government. Jeremiah 51:14 (NKJV) says, “Surely I will fill you with men as with locusts and they shall lift up a battle cry against you.” T h i s i s a w a r n i n g t o G o d’ s p e o p l e . I t i s t i m e t o s o u n d t h e a l a r m ! 30 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Comforting Th o s e Jason C. Wh o Russian Report Trust in YHWH with all your heart. Proverbs 3:5 M o u rn Update from Russia, 3. May 19, 2008 Peace I leave with you – My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give unto you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. (John 14:27, NASB) What a rich, rich blessing we have in Jesus Christ! Jesus gives us His peace – a peace so unlike the false “peace” that this world endlessly pursues. And so we shouldn’t let our hearts be troubled, nor should we let our hearts be fearful. If you’re reading this right now and you have burdens, worries, stress, and pressure weighing heavily upon you, take a deep breath, open your Bible to John 14:27, and let His word minister to your soul. Actually, I recommend reading all the way through chapters 14-16. These chapters have so very many precious truths contained in them! If we read them with a heart open to His voice, it is virtually impossible to close the Bible and not feel much better than we did before. Jesus’ words are so beautiful indeed! Things are going well here in Pittsburgh, and the Bible study for my Japanese students is continuing. Thus far, we’ve had three lessons concentrating on: the reality of God and His creating us, the laws God gives which we all break and the punishment we deserve, and the good news that through Jesus Christ we can be forgiven and receive eternal life. Several things have been striking as we’ve done these studies, but perhaps the most astonishing thing to me personally has been to see that, as a whole, they barely even have any foundational concepts about God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Although I’ve known for many years that there are extremely few Japanese believers, what’s recently been so surprising to see is how even basic concepts – which virtually all Americans have heard of and/or believe – are all Greek to them. For example, the idea of a real God who personally created them and this whole universe is a huge thing for some of them to try and grasp. Now I know we have lots of atheists and agnostics here, but I’ve never encountered a situation with them like I’ve had with my student who we’ll call “T.” When we were discussing God and His creating us recently, T seemed awestruck to listen to that idea. It was as if he was completely dumbfounded. Not because T couldn’t believe that concept, but because that was perhaps the first time in his whole life (he’s in his mid-thirties) that he even heard and considered that idea. For most Japanese, their religious thoughts are a mix of Buddhism and Shintoism, and they have a variety of gods and/or ancestral helpers they can appeal to. But for many in Japan, this is much more tradition than it is actual faith. It’s similar to how most Americans go to church on Christmas and Easter. And so, in starting this Bible study with them it seemed wise to first tackle the three main issues, being: that we personally have a Creator; that He gives laws which we break and thus deserve His wrath; and that He loves us so much that He sent His own Son to die for our sins. Please pray for these students! Many of them have heard, more-or-less understood, and perhaps even agreed with many of the things we’ve discussed; but once again, many of these truths from God’s word are radically new concepts for them to try to grab hold of. Many (and perhaps most) Americans are already aware of (even if they don’t believe) the ideas that God created us, that there is a Heaven and a Hell, what the Ten Commandments say, that Jesus died on the cross so God would forgive us, and so on. In Beslan, I recently called a few of my friends there, and the Lord blessed us with good conversation, although one of the calls was in response to a tragedy. You may recall reading about Alina, a young teenager who survived the terrorist attack along with her older brother. Her mom and dad recently traveled to Moscow, where Alina’s dad had heart surgery but very tragically died. I called and talked a bit with Alina, as well as with her mom (Roza), and they are understandably in a state of shock over this tragedy. Alina’s dad (Oleg) was only about 40 or 45, and I still remember the day we watched an old movie together just like it was yesterday. As mentioned already, both Alina and her older brother (Zaur) were in the gym for the three days during the 2004 terrorist attack, and they both were wounded – especially Alina. She and her brother went to Moscow for vital medical treatment following the attack, and Roza accompanied them. I believe they were there for perhaps a month or longer. After they returned to Beslan, Roza had some sort of breakdown – most likely from all the stress and anxiety she lived with during the three days her two children were under the threat of death, and the following weeks of intense medical procedures in Moscow. Her husband, Oleg, also had a heart condition. I don’t know if he had it before 2004, but even if so, I’m sure those three days took a heavy toll upon his health; indeed, heart problems are quite common to this very day among those whose children were hostages during the attack. Alina and her family are one of the families that I’m very close to, and so I know that her dad’s early death has totally thrown them into sorrow and tragedy. Alina is such a great kid, as is her brother Zaur. I don’t say that in flattery, but that in truth they are two teenagers who are more thoughtful and kind than many their age are. Alina wants to become a singer someday, and she dreams or visiting Chicago again and being able to go to college there. Please pray for Roza, Zaur, and Alina – that Jesus will comfort them, and help them to rest in the shadow of His wings. If The Lord places it upon your heart to send them a sympathy card or gift, please let me know and I can inform you as to how to do so. I know this family very well, and can assure you that a simple card from you would really touch their hearts. (* See family photo at end of update.) I recently got an e-mail from a mom in Beslan named Svyeta. You may recall reading about her in the past – she was a hostage during the attack along with her only child, a daughter. Sadly, her daughter did not survive. She and her husband have since adopted a little boy, a cute little kid named Arsen. (Her husband, Valiko, is the man who, on my first short visit to Beslan in spring 2005, asked, “Who will stop the spiritual murder/killing of the Ossetian people?” That was one of the sentences that just burned in my mind and helped me realize how much Beslan needs Jesus. Their daughter who was killed – Elvira – was the girl who about a month prior to her death wrote the poem about God’s angel coming to take her.) Among other things in Svyeta’s e-mail, she wrote that she and some others have started to attend an evangelistic church there. This is a huge, huge step for her! Praise and glory be to Yah! Please June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 31 Russian Report – Continued pray for Svyeta and these others, that they will fully give their hearts to Jesus Christ. One other thing I’d like to ask prayer for concerns my dear brother in the Lord from Senegal, Africa, named Diegane (pronounced JAY-gahn). He’s the one we have prayed for many times, who had to wait so many years before marrying the girl he helped bring out of Islam, due to her father’s insistence that Diegane first convert to Islam – which of course Diegane refused to do. To the Lord’s praise, they married earlier this year, but please keep Diegane and his wife Marem in your prayers – the following is from an e-mail which he recently sent me: M ay I ask you again to storm Heaven with prayers for my wife and me? You know here in Africa, particularly in Senegal, when married and weeks after having joined her husband, the bride goes back to her family for greetings. She can also spend weeks there. This is what happened with my wife. When the time came for her to go to say hello to her family, her parents – as they got mad at my refusal to convert – took advantage of her presence there and forbade her to come back to my town. Our marriage created a wall between her father and mom. Her father no longer wanted to talk to his daughter, nor to his wife (Marem’s mother), who was weeping all the time and in the long run fell sick. She got fed up with life because of the “shame” (as they put it) that our marriage caused them. Temptation of suicide was dangling over her head. In such a situation, I got calls from everyone in the family and relatives begging me to just “fix” the situation by accepting to convert to Islam even if I was pretending. I refused. They kept putting pressure on me and Marem. Marem could not endure such pressure, she also was always weeping. It was difficult for us to leave in peace.... We kept on praying. So, here is the situation: Marem is pregnant, by God’s grace, but is at her family’s. I do not want her to stay there while she’s pregnant, and I do not want her to give birth there – but I do not want to put more pressure upon her. She does not want to hurt her parents, as some 32 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly Jason C. people tried, and reconciled her with her father. I support her in this difficult situation. Please pray that the Lord speaks to the parents, mainly to Medoune Paye (Marem’s dad), who is the major obstacle. Pray that the Lord call them to His Kingdom like He did with Saul. Marem will come back, but she doesn’t know when. She told me that she does not want to give birth there. Please keep us in your prayers. I have become single once again. This is real spiritual warfare my friend, and we need God’s direction and support. Thank you! How wonderful it is that we can take refuge in The Awesome God that we serve, a God who can do far more abundantly beyond everything that we can ask or think! No man can oppose His will, and His plans can be thwarted by none. When we pray to Him, may we remember to whom we are praying – The Eternal God, Who never grows weary, and who’s still got the whole world in His Hands. Jesus Is Lord! jason [email protected] Peace I leave with you – My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give unto you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27 *Urgent Disaster Appeal For Prayer & Emergency Financial Assistance For Myanmar/Burma The unspeakable disaster in Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest countries, is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus as a witness and testimony to seriously afflicted people who are in spiritual darkness due to the demonic bondage of Buddhist superstition compounded by an oppressive regime. All contributions will be forwarded to Moriel’s sister ministry ‘Understand The Times’ directed by Roger Oakland which operates an orphanage and Christian training program in Myanmar similar in kind to Moriel’s work in Africa. Israel, The Church & The Jews Available NOw New Release! You may feel that the cross you bear is too much for you... But trust the Lord, he knows what you are going through and has his reasons for it. Persevere through the hard times and they will benefit you later in life. Life is too short for drama & petty things, so kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly. Israel, The Church and The Jews is a themed assortment of biblical teaching and essays. It focuses on providing a biblically-balanced and comprehensive perspective on the major aspects of the relationship theologically and historically between biblical Christianity, Israel, and the Jewish people – both the regenerate and as yet unregenerate. Covers the erroneous position of super-cessationist Replacement Theology to its Christian Zionist antithesis; Messianic prophecy to the origins of the Gospel within the Judaic culture that produced it; the eschatological and prophetic implications of contemporary events in the Middle East, up to and including the Annapolis Summit. This book furnishes an up-to-date, multi-faceted, and doctrinally-solid compendium addressing the key issues that every Bible-believing Christian and every Jew should ponder in today’s fast-changing world. Place your order @ www.moriel.org Margret Godwin Rambling Rose a testimony by Dennis, so don’t miss it.) The family got together here on Wednesday, the 7th for Nigel’s actual birthday (he had a big family due in on the following Saturday). Anyway, it was decided that as Nigel was getting on in years we would give him a complete “makeover.” Gales of laughter were heard far and wide, and I produce photographic evidence to show you just what a wondrous change this brought about. I think he looks some 20 years younger; see what you think with ambling ose Greetings Dear Family in the Name of Jesus ... from the Land of the “Long White Cloud” New Zealand. o, I have not emigrated! Pam, Vic and I took the opportunity to have a two-week break and to come over to help Nigel (Moriel New Zealand) celebrate his 73rd birthday. This is almost becoming an annual event for me. So currently we are in Napier (East Coast of the North Island – Hawkes Bay area). As I been heard to say on numerous occasions, if I did not reside in Victoria and could persuade my family to move – I could quite happily live here. It is a beautiful land. The Lord has been so very gracious with the weather; it has been perfect except for a day or so of rain. But coming from our drought-ridden country, one cannot complain about that. It has been so wonderful to come and share fellowship with my adopted family here. It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord organizes all of this – countries apart and yet praising Him; like-minded people seeking to serve Him in truth and love. The fellowship here in Napier may be small but the move of the Holy Spirit when they come together is awesome and precious. As many of you may remember, Nigel’s wife Jennifer went to be with the Lord last August, and I felt a little apprehensive coming back this time as our dear Jen was the “hub” of the family. But there was no reason for concern, as she left three beautiful daughters (all walking with the Lord) to be such a comfort to their dad. Debbie and her husband Jonathan, Jacquie and her husband Scott, Kirsty and her husband Linford, children Anais, Kezia, Tamysan, and the baby. It is the most wonderful thing to be on the outside looking in and seeing the whole family like-minded in their love of the Lord. I would love to pack them up and take them home with me. We have had daily fellowship with our dear brother Dennis Lyth (or Denn as he is to us), as well as with the Nicholson clan. Denn is such a precious brother. (I have included in this issue BEFORE the “before and after” photos! Nigel’s brother Rex, and Rex’s wife Pam, came up to Napier to share in the festivities. I am including a photo of Rex playing the didgeridoo. W e have been here for just over one week, and tomorrow we will head off for a sixday tour of the top half of the North Island since Pam and Vic, while they have travelled extensively overseas, have never been to New Zealand before. There is still quite a deal of the spectacular autumn colors around, so it will be a real treat. Oh yes, one thing I must tell you is about is the “earthquake” we experienced here the other morning. Vic and Pam had been looking at films of the disastrous earthquake that decimated Napier in 1931 and they voiced their concern about anJune 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 33 Rambling Rose – Continued other happening. Well would you believe our gracious hosts – ever happy to oblige -- gave them one at about 4am at 4.5 on the Richter Scale. Guess who didn’t feel a thing? Yes, I slept through the whole thing! Although I have reliably been told that they are a common event and I am sure to get to experience one, oh joy, oh bliss! I am sure I could live without the said “experience.” While I am over here I have Trish and Les Martin residing at “Shangri-la Godwin” minding my two babies Noah and Esther. Trish and Les, who are actually “Kiwis” and lived for a number of years in Tasmania, now live in their mobile home travelling all around as the Lord leads them. They delight in sharing Him with the non-saved. So along with Delsa they are holding down the fort at home. Well, dear family, I now have my collar off, the breaks in my neck have all mended (praise the Lord), and I am now back driving again (after four and a half months). Not only did I experience the incredible miracle of being saved in the accident, but after a great deal of prayer the Lord produced a really great replacement vehicle. And would you believe, it’s the same model and color as my last Margret Godwin grim Fellowship we received some for a dear sister in South Australia recently. I was asked to speak to several groups when I returned from the last trip, and we now have ladies in our town joining in. I am including some photos for you. Doesn’t it almost blow you away when you see the Lord’s hand in all of this and the opportunities it affords to speak of Him? He is just so delicious! Well, dear family, it is time for me to draw this to a close as I need to get the bags packed and cook dinner for some 14 of the clan tonight – the very best New Zealand lamb, which they tell me is the best lamb in the world. Of course, I don’t believe the Aussie lamb can be beaten, but I will give you my totally unbiased opinion in the next issue. Our knitting program for the children in the Squatter Camp (across the road from Ebyown in South Africa) God Bless and keep you my dears, In Christ, Marg P.S. Pam & Vic also send their love to you all. P.P.S. Guess what? We are home again. I had intended to have the newsletter printed while I was away, but my computer network crashed so I had to postpone the mail out. Thank you to all those who so patiently waited for their resource orders: we have managed to get 90% of them out this week. SPECIAL PRIZE one. On top of that, my dear brother Adrian Trudiou and his wife Violet gave me a gift of personalized number plates. Thank you my dears; it is amazing how many people ask me what the name is about. We had dreadful storms in Victoria last month. The wind was so fierce that it ripped the skylights off my veranda. But praise the Lord no one was hurt. Other people experienced some dreadful damage, some losing their homes when huge trees fell on them and absolutely demolished them. Being so far away from home I am trying to think about what else has been happening. Oh yes, our knitting program for the children in the squatter camp (across the road from Ebyown in South Africa) is going well and we have been able to send two boxes full in the past month along with little hats, booties, and little dollies. It is so very cold over there at present (much the same as our weather here), but of course they live in sheets of tin and very little to keep them warm – no heaters or proper fireplaces; just a hole in the ground. Apart from the ladies at our Pil34 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly One of our readers (Trish Martin) spent almost an entire day recently checking for typos and spelling errors in our Mini Catalogue. I was amazed at just how many there were and as such have decided to hold a competition. The person who finds the most errors will receive a very special prize. BUT to enter you must list legibly the error and the page it is on. PLEASE DO NOT cut up your mini catalogue; they are too expensive and important resource. So I expect to be absolutely deluged with entries — OK. I especially look forward to a list from Owen, Lorraine & Celia – you know who you are!!!!!!! New Zealand Lamb V Australian Lamb I know you will be anxious to know the outcome of just who has the better lamb. Sorry folks; it was a “dead heat” Truly! I think as I am getting older I am recalling some of my mothers lessons on diplomacy! Bye again! In Christ, Marg Midlands Bible COLLEGE Accredited Theological studies by Open & Distance Learning As a lecturer at MBC, Jacob Pasch recommends the College as a place of study for those wishing a more in-depth understanding of God’s Word. Distancelearning Bible courses ranging from beginner through to fully accredited degree-level are available in either electronic study pack or traditional cassette and printed notes format. The Midlands Bible College St. John’s Square Wolverhampton WV2 4AT (United Kingdom) www.midbible.ac.uk [email protected] Australian Report Margret Godwin Australian Hello Dear Family Greetings in the Name of Jesus As I mentioned in “The Rambling Rose,” I am currently in New Zealand as I write this. When we were at the Melbourne International Airport enroute to Wellington I noticed a great number of Orthodox Jews & Muslims. I remarked to Vic that we were the only Aussies around (and he and Pam are only by adoption as they are both Poms). Anyway, Vic tried to talk to the Jews who were right beside us about Jacob, Moriel, etc., but they laughingly gave us a wide berth. And, of course, the Muslims kept very much to themselves. After a little while the Jewish people left to catch their flight. Then, all of a sudden, a group of about thirty people gathered in a circle and began to pray quite audibly. They were of Eastern European descent (Ukraine or Romanian) and they prayed for about twenty minutes. My spirit soared as I recognized so many of the words. As I looked at them I noted their faces were aglow. Finally, their prayers drew to a close and they moved off to catch their flight. It came to my mind that, so many times when we are together publicly, we almost whisper a prayer, especially when we say grace in a café or restaurant. I do not want to sound judgmental, but I do want to encourage each of us to be bolder as we never know who may be around and just who could be encouraged or uplifted by hearing the name of Jesus lovingly spoken. Conferences and Meetings for 2008 We are very excited about the forthcoming conference with Jacob in Melbourne in July. Although other ministries have held them in the past, this is a first for Moriel. We ask you to pray that it goes well and will be the first of many to come. What is even more exciting is the fellowship that we will share; so many people nowadays have very few others with whom they can come together. The complete program is on the colored flyer in the center of this issue. For Jacob’s conference we have people coming from New Zealand, Qld, WA, and a bus load from Adelaide, which just adds to the excitement. The meetings for Dave Royle in August & Dr. Calvin Smith in September will be in a separate mailout so do watch your church mail board and, of course, your mailbox. Mini Catalogue (Australia & Asia Pacific Only) Judging from the response from the previous issue, you liked the mini catalogue stapled in the center of the magazine. I suggest that you remove it now as it will be awhile before we issue a larger edition. Of course we will highlight new teachings in current issues. Prayer for Dave Royle and the children at Ebyown Dave has been in dreadful pain for quite some time but now the specialists have found quite a deal of arthritis in his back. So they are going to inject directly into his spine to hopefully relieve the pain for twelve months. Please keep him in your prayers. A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from Dave in which he was so distressed it would seem that he and Lyn had to take one of our new little girls, S’Phewi (who suffers with CP), into the hospital. She was vomiting blood, and they thought she may have had a gastric ulcer. This little lamb is fed through a stomach tube and requires quite a deal of nursing. Hygiene is most critical. When Dave & Lyn went to visit her she was still in the same nappy as the day before, and was lying in blood-soaked sheets. There were live and dead cockroaches on the floor and walls, along with dirty swabs and syringes all around. Dave was so rightfully angry, and this is a little of his message. When he demanded that the floor be cleaned he noted that the bucket and mops were dirtier than what was on the floor. He was speaking to lady who had given birth to a son there in 1994. At that time the hospital was a shining beacon of health care for all the community. What she found now, due to severe cutbacks, is overworked and demoralized staff. On this particular public holiday there was one doctor covering pediatrics and ICU. “I am not blaming the hospital, nor am I blaming the staff. Most we met really cared and were dealing with a bad situation. I blame the ANC. The ANC promised the people of South Africa so much 14 years ago: better housing, jobs, healthcare, policy making. Instead, what do we have but millions in squatter camps, mass unemployment, a crime wave that makes Sodom & Gomorra look like tinsel town, and a health system that hands over dead babies in plastic carrier bags to grieving mothers, and is barely able to keep a sick child by providing basic needs. Mind you, the ANC can spend BILLIONS ON THE 2010 WORLD CUP. It can provide Mbeki with a 90 million rand security wall around his palace. It can provide jets for taking him all over the world in luxury, and billions for a parliament riddled with rapists, abusers and fraudsters. Lord knows what will happen when the polygamist Jacob Zuma comes into power, a man charged with rape & fraud. In the last ten years there have been 120,000 unsolved murders. untold rapes and hijackings, and now a crime infrastructure that has had little investment during the last 14 years. Thank God that here at Ebyown we have been provided by our supporters with a generator that can kick in when needed. Yet for the last 8 years we have been touched by every aspect of the decline of a once godly nation taken prisoner by every political leader and his nsongoma (witchdoctor). The government and the world have made promise after promise. But June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 35 Persecution Steve Doughty/Andy Dolan what use is a politician’s promise to a sick child lying in a government bed? Thank you Moriel supporters. Because of your support, through Jesus, we can be the voice and the practical hands for these children wherever we find them. The tragedy is (and something I believe God will judge), if all those who claim to be Christian in this land, just did a LITTLE something, then the tragedy we are facing could be averted.” Dear family does that not break your heart, it surely does mine. Sad Loss Just as I was preparing to leave for NZ the news came through that our dear friend Terry O’Brien had gone to be with the Lord (2nd May). Terry had been ill for quite a long time and had gone to his final reward. He has been a great friend to me and my son Peter. He was a man I respected, and he was a man of immense integrity. He and my Ross (when meeting each other for the first time) became immediate friends and spent many long hours righting the wrongs of the world, discussing government, airplanes (for which they had a great passion), flight, and so much more. I have 27 years of lovely memories of times shared. While he is at peace now, Terry will be greatly missed by his family and huge circle of friends. Our most loving thoughts and prayers are with Maureen, Frank, Chrissy, Daniel, Cody and Sharnie. Well, my dears, it is time to draw this to a close. I am so looking forward to seeing so many of you at the conference (the rest I will have to wait to see in the air or Heaven). God Bless you In Christ, Marg Cartoon of the QUARTER ! You can’t preach the Bible here, (What a community policeman told two Christians) By Steve Doughty and Andy Dolan/June 2, 2008 Two Christian preachers were stopped from handing out Bible extracts by police because they were in a Muslim area, it was claimed yesterday. They say they were told by a Muslim police community support officer that they could not preach there and that attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity was a hate crime. The community officer is also said to have told the two men: ‘You have been warned. If you come back here and get beat up, well, you have been warned.’ A police constable who was present during the incident in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham is also alleged to have told the preachers not to return to the district. It comes amid growing concern over the development of Islamic ‘no-go areas’. The preachers, Americans Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham, are demanding an apology and compensation from West Midlands Police. They say their treatment breaks the Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of religious expression. The preachers, who have the backing of the Christian Institute pressure group, say they will take the force to court for breaching their human rights if they don’t receive an apology. They have accused the officer, PCSO Naeem Naguthney, of behaving in an ‘aggressive and threatening’ manner. A complaint by their lawyers said he interrupted as they spoke to Muslim youths about their beliefs. Mr Abraham, 65, who was born a Muslim in Egypt and is a convert to Christianity, said: ‘He told us we were trying to convert Muslims to Christianity and that that was a hate crime. ‘He was very intimidating and it concerns me that somebody holding his views can become a police officer, albeit at PCSO level.’ Mr Cunningham, 48, a fellow American Baptist missionary, said: ‘He realised we were Americans and then started ranting at us about George Bush and American foreign policy. ‘He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said he was going to take us to the police station.’ Mr Cunningham added: ‘I am dumfounded that the police seem so nonchalant. They seem content not to make it clear that what we were doing was perfectly legal. This is a free country and to suggest we were guilty of a hate crime for spreading God’s word is outrageous.’ According to a complaint by the men’s lawyers, Mr Naguthney summoned two other officers in support, one of whom, a full constable, is said to have told the men not to return to the area. Mr Naguthney, 30, was recruited as a community support officer last year after being unemployed for eight months. Earlier this year, he had a prominent role at a conference to launch the West Midlands branch of the National Association of Muslim Police. He gave a reading from the Koran before the audience heard a recorded contribution from Gordon Brown, a speech from Home Office Minister Tony McNulty, and contributions from several chief constables. Mr Naguthney declined to discuss the row. His brother, Nadeem, said: ‘Naeem is a community man, that is why he joined the police.’ The Alum Rock area was at the heart of a terrorism inquiry last year, which ended with the conviction of local resident Parviz Khan for plotting to kidnap and behead a British soldier. A senior Church of England bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, warned recently that it is hard for non-Muslims to live and work in some areas where radicals and clerics are trying to impose an Islamic character. A West Midlands Police spokesman said an investigation into the complaint had concluded that the PCSO had acted ‘with the best of intentions’ when he ‘intervened to diffuse a heated argument between two groups of men’. A statement added: ‘Following this investigation, the PCSO has been offered guidance about what constitutes a hate crime and advice on communication style.’ Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1023483/You-preach-BibleMuslim-area-What-police-told-Christian-preachers.html Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard & Metro Media Group © 2008 Associated Newspapers Ltd 36 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly South Africa News Salvador Ung Hayworth – KWAZULU DIARY By Salvador Ung Hayworth E-MAIL: [email protected] Wed 30th April, Day 1 We both had a difficult night -- restless and not much sleep being accomplished - the night before coming to KwaZulu Natal. My mind was constantly ticking over despite prayers rendered to God. This trip to visit Phumulani and our friends would be the shortest to date -- just Wednesday to Saturday. Di and I decided that since we have bought our car we want to try and take more trips there in order to support Phumulani. I had made phone contact with the Coastal Assemblies of God pastor called Jaques Grobelaar in the local town of Vryheid, who has a small group of people meeting in his home. I was quite excited about this meeting because here was an Afrikans guy who has a real heart for black people and actually wants to mix with them for the Gospel’s sake -- for the sake of Christ Jesus. I had forgotten to put petrol in the car the previous night so we had to go some extra kms into Springs to fill up. This worked out in our favor as Masese had left her medication at Allen and Sue’s home. Thus we could collect them and drop them back at her home on our way to KwaZulu Natal. Although this was a short trip, the car was packed full, especially now that we had a Cadac stove and a gas bottle for cooking. We had packed sandwiches and also a supply of snacks for fat man (check out our last mission trip diary if you don’t get it). We had been warned about the amount of potholes along the way, and were told to be careful. I was very attentive because the road to Standerton was especially bad, and I was determined to drive that stretch and not Di because I knew how bad it was. I did really well in dodging them until I came up to a practical crater, tried to dodge it, and hit the back right wheel. There were four other vehicles pulled over, obviously caught by the same trap. When we pulled over we could hear the loud hiss of the air escaping to its freedom and the tire looking deflated -- which was just how I was feeling. We tried to put the spare on with our jack which lacked a turning rod. So we used the arm of our can opener. It got to a certain point and then collapsed. I drove further, praying for God’s mercy in the midst of my frustration, and pulled over to where there was more of a hard shoulder. We tried to get the jack under again but it was too big to fit under the car. Di spied Weds 30TH April- Sat 3RD May, 2008 WEBSITE; http://msindisi.googlepages.com a house of the side of the road but I was feeling a bit too proud to go ask for help. However, I relented. The padlock on the gate was unlocked but hooked to hold the chain together. I opened it and went inside. I was about to close it when a dog came out, sniffed, and came towards me. I went out, closed the gate, put the padlock back on, and told the dog, “It’s ok.” I walked around wanting to attract the attention of the person inside, but to no avail. I went back to the dog and asked the dog to bark, to get his masters attention. “Bark Dog!” It didn’t even growl. Alas, I didn’t know the word for bark in Afrikaans !!!! However the owner did appear “Huir More” I said, and explained what had happened. Very kindly he lent me his jack and told me to throw it back over the fence when we finished with it. He was on night shift and wanted to sleep. Thus we got to Vryheid rather late and to Phumulani’s even later. I had been hoping to visit some people in the afternoon but we managed only to get to Phumulani’s at 5:00pm. I didn’t feel the excitement that I felt on the last trip; rather there was a normality about it as if I was going back home after a short holiday. In fact, both Di and I felt quite at home during the trip. Phumulani’s dogs didn’t even sniff at us when we got out of the car. Back to the beautiful countryside, basic living and a quietness that stills the soul. Thurs 1st May, Day 2 Wow! Eleven hours sleep! I can’t believe it; we must have been tired. This morning we were due to visit Jacques in Vryheid, I had hooked up our stove while Di was reading in bed. I made some sweet porridge with Mealie meal boiled with milk and sugar. But I figured that if I’d made it with more milk and water I could have fed more people. We went to Vryheid hoping that we could find the Christian bookshop open so we could buy some Zulu commentaries and a Zulu exercise book for Di. However, there was a slim chance of that since it was a bank holiday. We went to check out Phumulani’s exams results at the college but his results were not yet published. From there we headed straight to Jacques’ house. We had a wonderful time of fellowship as Jacques shared with us what the Lord had been teaching their group from their sharing and from the Scriptures. This had been confirmed at their churches’ convention and resonated with my heart -- how we need to wait on the Lord and allow Him to lead us and teach us. Through the course of the conversation, Phumulani shared a little of his testimony, but wanted to wait and pray before sharing what might be on his heart. I shared my heart’s desire for these areas and Jacques said that he felt a witness to that which a good number of other people have had. Also, we found out that the Salvation Army officer with whom I, Caleb and Sophie made good friends with (Captain Doug Hammond), was actually a regular attendee of Jacques’ Bible study group. I was amazed because we had never heard of Coastal Assemblies being in Vryheid before. Di felt encouraged by the meeting and thought that any relationship formed with this group would definitely be two-way. Sadly, we didn’t get to meet Jacques’ wife. An invitation was given to Phumulani that if there was any need for prayer or fellowship to contact them. We were also invited to stay with them for a night the next time we visited the area. We headed back to Phumulani’s place for lunch and I made a batch of popcorn to take to a place called Khambi. The previous time we had visited there I promised that we would bring popcorn and share in a Bible study together. Along the way Di made me stop the car so that she could capture some of the beautiful rolling hills and the population of innumerable trees. We drove through the Khambi village. On either side of the road lay a high school and primary school. We drove down to where our friends live, which was at the bottom of a rocky tract. I drove down very carefully, not wanting to burst anything else on this trip. When it was impossible to go any further I parked on a small grassy verge. A sound of singing came from one of the huts, and out came “Nomusa.” Nomusa was one of the regular attendees of the Bible study Caleb and I ran in this area. The last time I saw her she had starting training to become a nurse, but she had stopped because there wasn’t enough money to continue her training. We went with her into the house. Lena, a member of her Bible study, had just gotten married so there where many gifts of blankets and June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 37 South Africa News – Continued pots around that had been given to the family by her husband. We brought the popcorn in with warm greetings and proceeded to share a Bible study. They phoned a girl called Mphume, who brought her child, and we sat and talked through John chapter 1. An interesting discussion started concerning a Zulu false prophet called Isaiah Shembe. As a reaction against some Europeans’ derogatory attitude toward black people, even going as far as saying they have no soul, Isaiah Shebe declared that Jesus was the Messiah for the white people but he, Shembe, was the black messiah. Thus his sect that continues long after his death states that Shembe is the way. I asked them if it was possible that Shembe was the way. Nomusa, an active member of the local Salvation Army, said that she thought so. Upon looking at John 14:6, she said that Isaiah Shembe couldn’t be the way. I told them that our friend Caleb, with whom I used to work, was thinking of a short mission trip next year and they may get to see him. They were very happy to hear this. It was late when we left and we didn’t want Phumulani’s mum to worry about where we were. Though these people had heard the Gospel before, there is still a lack of Bible teaching and really dealing with the religious beliefs that have captivated their hearts and minds. Because a bridal price is unaffordable, many couples, even within churches like the Salvation Army, have children out of wedlock. It is not just Bible teaching the people need, but also good Christian examples of marriage and child raising. This is the way biblical discipleship is supposed to work -- through doctrine and life. How many teachers have we listened to in our Christian walk? And how many of those teachers have opened up their lives with us and let us observe their walk? Fri 2nd May, Day 3 This morning I made a huge amount of porridge mixed with tin fruit. Phumulani mum was being given a lift somewhere so I rushed out with a bowl for her to take on her way. It is such a peaceful and simple life in this place. The local people get up early while it is still very dark. Celani’s husband goes to work for a local farmer but the job is not stable. One week there might be work, and the other week, none. Phumulani is responsible for milking Celani’s cows, and after that returns to milk his own. It is cold and dark when he goes, but then the sun rises and the only work to do is to keep home. The girls job will be to draw and bring water from the river. Though there is cooking and cleaning, set the fire’s, etc. This is done at a slow pace. So we started the day with a visit to 38 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly the family who had given us a mat for our baby boy, whenever he comes. We had promised in our last visit to bring them some kiwi fruit. This time I boldly asked if I could share the Bible with her. She agreed, and I strongly tackled the subject of ancestral spirits while expounding the Gospel. Just as the day before, when speaking about Isaiah Shembe and dealing with ancestral spirits, though she said she believed in them, she didn’t show any signs of reacting against what was said. The children in her home even wear bands for these spirits. But she was interested, and tried her best to answer the questions I gave, till we got the conclusion that God disapproved of this practice. We will try to catch up with her next time we visit. Our next visit was with a lady that Phumulani knew of. In fact we had visited her once upon a time when Caleb, Sophie, and I lived at the auction yard. She attended a Lutheran Church that was in the area. She said she was saved, and she welcomed us into her large home. In fact there had been quite a development in the area. More western type houses had been built out of breeze block. There were still mud huts around, but I reckon this will become more of an anomally as time passes. Phumalani explained some information concerning this lady and asked me to share. I said that there is only one true Gospel but there are different false gospels around. I said I would share with her, but she must test my words by Scripture itself. She got her Bible and was trying to follow what was said, but her eyes couldn’t read the small print; you could see her heart for the Scriptures because she persevered to read and follow. While I was speaking she stopped us as there were noises coming from the back. She explained it was her children who were afraid to come in to listen to the Gospel, so they were trying to hide. So off she went, and about five minutes later the matriarch of this clan had all four children marched into the room and sitting down, nervously laughing at each other. Even with their discomfort, twitching and shaking there was obedience to their mother, and that was a lovely thing to see. By the end of sharing and asking numerous questions they seemed to have settled down and they understood the contents of the Gospel. We headed back to Phumulani’s for a late lunch before going to visit Celani. I had to confess to her that I had misplaced a letter that she had asked me to send to the UK, I felt dreadful, about it. She was gracious and forgiving and still entrusted me with a letter for Sophie (which we sent off as soon as we got back). Celani and Di seemed to have a longer conversation, with Di trying to use the Zulu words she had learned and Celani asking her questions. We spoke about a guy who wanted to put up a tent in Eastmine. It seems that as soon as Caleb and Sophie had left the area, this guy and another guy had expressed desires for Phumulani’s church to sit under their authority. Two different people seeking power. There is only one problem: it isn’t Phumulani’s church, but the Lord’s church. And the Lord said that the greatest among you shall be the servants of all. The tent guy wanted them to sit under him so that he would minister and they would watch, but the elders of a church should be there to provoke the believers into doing works of service and not to do it all themselves. Sat 3rd May, Day 4 The last day of this short trip made me really think. For unlike other trips, we just felt it to be comfortable. Though we were only there for a few days, I felt I hadn’t really left the area and that I wasn’t really leaving it. It had a homely feel to the place. When I first had returned in 2006/7 and when Di and I visited in 2007/8 it had a sadness when it came to leaving. No sadness was there on this departure. It was just a matter of packing and breakfast. Because the shops were closed on the thursdays we wanted to get to Vryheid before they closed so we were determined to leave at 11. Phumulani was taking the kids club because Celani had shopping to do for the family. I played football with Celani’s son and Di played netball with the girls until the kids arrived. Phumualani started the class with songs , a few were song which I had not heard before. There was reading of scripture and grilling the children through the memory verse.There were only about 7 or 8 children this week. It was just like old times when sometimes we would have over 20 kids and other times we would have less than 10. Unfortunately we didn’t get to sit through the whole class due to time. When we got to Vryheid we waited in a long queue to withdraw money, while being entertained by a drunk guy in front wanting to cause trouble. We managed to purchase 38 commentries in Zulu for the church in Springs which could be used for bible studies and aids for Zak’s bible teaching. As we drove closer to Springs the weather changed, we returned home to a cold evening so deceided to leave the car packed until the morn. Proverbs 4:7 (NIV) “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom though it cost all you have, get understanding”. Y’varechecha Adonai B Allen & Sue South Africa News E Z A L E E L N E W S L E T T E May 2008 R <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] Dear friends, For some time now I have been thinking about three verses in Psalm 90 (verses2b, 12 and 17): “Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.…So teach us to number our days, That we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.… And let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us; And do confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.” [NASB]. Our lives consist of days that bear eternal significance in the lives of those we love, care for, teach, witness to, and so on. As we yield our lives to God to teach us how best to serve Him each day, He gives us the wisdom to do so. We also rely on Him to give permanence to what we do, thus seeing fruit in the lives of those with whom we have to do. Children, particularly young ones, keep one’s feet firmly on the ground with the demands of the day – a constant reminder to carefully weigh what is important, and draw on the wisdom of God. One also realizes the significance of being faithful in small increments of time that are consistently being laid one upon another to produce the desired effect one seeks. For example, by faithfully giving our HIV-positive children their ARV’s daily, we significantly halt the progress of the virus in their bodies. If we choose to be unwise and sporadically miss some doses, we create a very real threat of resistance to their treatment, ill health and a shortened life expectancy. So it is with our faith. If we play fast and loose with the Truth and fail to demonstrate observable love to those we hope to reach and the people we are in relationship with, there exists a real possibility that we contribute to a resistance in people seeking the Lord. Regardless of what the future holds, the Lord would have us be faithful in the task set before us. A few weeks ago Dianne asked me if we could assist a foster mom and her twelve-year-old daughter whom she is in contact with on the informal settlement Kwazenzele. This is where she and Salvador are sharing the Gospel and bringing assistance where they can. Masesi is HIVpositive and had just started ART in November last year. She weighed only 22kg and, as it turned out, she had pneumonia and chronic lung disease. We took her to my pediatrician, had x-rays taken, and started her on a course of antibiotics and treatment with a nebulizer. She stayed with us for two weeks, then returned home. We thank the Lord for her recovery and that she is also TB free. Masesi has also gained two kilograms in weight, and it is a joy to see her appetite improve. I am presently home schooling Masesi with my children as she was experiencing hurtful taunting by the other children at the school she was attending because of her thinness, and was rejected because she is HIV-positive. She has a strong desire to learn and works at her lessons diligently. My children are very gracious to her and have happily included her in their lives. Mother-to-child transmission is still unacceptably high in sub-Saharan Africa due to poor resources. With the correct procedure and treatment, transmission can be dramatically reduced. It is with anger and frustration that one responds to some of the erroneous hopes proffered to a people decimated by a pandemic that bears numerous implications to those with HIV and their families. Some time back I was asked to read a so-called “prophecy” and comment on it. One of the predictions was that HIV would be driven out of South Africa. My question is: Where exactly – into a herd of pigs? Then what – into the sea? What nonsense. HIV is not a spirit; it is a virus with huge implications both physically and spiritually. Please pray for all those who are faithfully working at the coal face of HIV, that they would not lose heart in doing right, for in due time they will reap their reward. [Gal. 6:9]. We give thanks to the Lord for the health of all our HIV-positive children at this time. They are all stable on their treatment and busily doing what children do. Music continues unabated, with Lizzie writing pre-grade-1 university exams with UNISA for piano, and Trinity London exams for recorder. Please pray for her as she prepares for them. Thabo is playing recorder, Ruth piano, and Ernest guitar. Ernest and Ruth are playing soccer for the local football club and Walter participates in the practices. Rosie has just had a new splint made for her hand as the other one was too small. It gives her far greater movement for her fingers. We had Benjamin’s hearing tested by an audiologist as we were concerned by a heightened sensitivity to sound. Fortunately it is not too elevated, and the rest of his hearing is fine. Due to concerns of Walter still being a nonreader at twelve years of age, we had him assessed. The report places him at a moderate retardation level with an IQ of below 50. It was also suggested that we see a neurologist to rule out petit mal seizures. We will do so in the near future. My focus for his learning has changed, and at the moment he is following a preschool curriculum with the five younger children as a remedial program. Please pray for him and for us to have wisdom regarding direction for his future. We are focusing on dramatically improving reading skills with the older children and we’re also spending a lot of time with math. With winter upon us, Lizzie, Thoko and Masesi are knitting scarves for family members. Whenever Allen sees them knitting he says, “Hello grannies,” and they protest loudly. Our vegetable garden has been great this year with the encouragement of Pam in Australia, and our hens gave us lots of eggs. Our rooster nearly landed in the pot when he attacked Allen, leaving puncture marks in his leg. We were very blessed to have gone on holiday for a week in December last year, generously provided for by friends. It was to a game park called Marloth Park next to the Kruger Park. The children swam every day and we saw a lot of game. Zebra came into the garden and the children patted them. Monkeys came into the house and stole an apple. We also had a warthog walk through, and we saw a lot of giraffes. Many of the animals had young and it was a memorable time for the children. Our seven older children were baptized in water, and we thank the Lord that we have the privilege of sharing our faith with them. Please continue to pray for Allen in his endeavor as he has experienced numerous problems setting up wireless internet. Thank you all for your prayers, love and support and thank you for taking the time to read this letter. As we labor together, may we give our Lord all the glory. I would like to leave you with a quote from the Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine, Summer 2008 issue: In 2006 more than half a million children were newly infected with HIV, most from mother to child transmission in resource- limited countries. The global figures are staggering: every day, 1400 children under the age of 15 die from AIDS-related illnesses. Of the 2.3 million children currently infected with HIV, most will die without treatment within the 1st 5 years of life-more than half before the age of 2. Even children not infected with HIV are affected by the epidemic: 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and these children are more likely to experience poverty, homelessness and early death. He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker. But he who is gracious to the needy honours Him. Proverbs14:31. [NASB]. May the Lord bless you, keep you, make His face to shine upon you and give you peace. Allen and Sue June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 39 Moriel South Africa David Royle Moriel Missions Dear Friends, Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus our Messiah and Savior. We have all had a very busy and exciting month, with me going to the UK on itinerary and also receiving friends from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. I will tell you more about this later. As usual, if you want to see pictures of the ministry associated with this newsletter then please visit our googlepage at HYPERLINK “http://morielmissionscollege.googlepages.com/ http://Morielmissionscollege.googlepages.com/ Jacobs Tour The tour begins this week, and we are very excited about having Jacob with us. It seems only five minutes since his Christmas visit, and yet the last six months have been filled with exciting things. Ebyown Children’s Home: Lettie our New Ebyown Child The last two weeks have been very busy with the visit of Manny and Kelly Mance from Pittsburgh, who came to help us acquire our new home for children with physical and mental challenges. On Sunday afternoon the house was finished, and on Sunday evening Simphi- 40 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly we, Deven moved in. Today Lettie arrived, ensuring that the house is already full. Manny is a highly skilled worker and can do anything in construction. He runs his own business in Pittsburgh. Moriel wants to thank him and ask the Lord to bless him, as he had no income while on this trip and paid his own way. May the Lord bless him double. Also, Manny’s wife Marilyn had an emergency gall bladder surgery while Manny was over here, and we were in constant prayer for her. To say the least, he was quite concerned, but Marilyn came through the surgery and is recovering nicely and is relieved to have Manny back home. Thanks Manny and Marilyn and Kelly. This is a four-bed unit for disabled children, and will house three children and house parents. It has been designed with the extra room needed for wheelchairs, and also with ramps at the front of the house and at the rear emergency exit. We had Geza.com come to fit bathroom and kitchen units, and our electrician Rudy wired the place ready for use. Thank you to all concerned who have made this possible Lettie is 13 years old and has Cerebral Palsy. She cannot walk unaided and is totally dependent for all her physical needs. The children will be looked after by our house mums, Victoria and Mary, during the evening and early morning, and will attend our school during the day. As you can imagine, Lettie and the others require a lot of special care, and this is expensive. Please find it in your hearts to sponsor Lettie and give all our children the home that God says they should have. We would like to purchase for all our wheelchair users a special vehicle for taking them and the others for doctors’ appointments and day trips. This would be a valuable asset for the ministry and would cost in the region of $30,000 or 15,000 sterling (R220,000). Thanks once again for your prayerful support and for ensuring that the children that man gives up on can find love and nurture with a Christian family. Our other young lady, Simphiwi, who also suffers with CP and who is fed through a PEG, was admitted to Far East Rand hospital. The staff was great, but the hospital battles underfunding. So it was quite dis- tressful at times to see the poor environment that both nurses and patients have to battle. We were glad to see Simphiwi home and well again. Paulina still waits for permission to remove a bone in her foot. This has now taken eight months and is an example of the things we have to battle against with social services. Luke had a nasty lump on his shoulder due to a swollen gland, and Baden, who is lactose intolerant, managed to steal some cheese from the top of one of the kid’s Pizza. He ended up quite unwell with a terrible tummy. Prudence really has a talent for baking. Her cornbread is the best I have tasted. Who knows, she may be Ebyown’s future cook? N’thombi, Siphiwe and Jo have all been well this month, for which we praise God. Deven has had several seizures but has stabilized in the last week. Lyn and I have had a fair month. We were due to go on five-days leave but the xenophobic troubles began on Kwazinzele. And although it was not the worst hit area, there were some shacks burnt down and gunshots heard on several occasions. So we thought it prudent not to go at that time. I (Dave) have been diagnosed with Arthritis of the spine with some slightly prolapsed discs, and have been given cortisone. Apart from that, we are doing well. Christopher is also well and is looking forward to travelling. Our other children are all doing fine. We now have Deven and our new girl Siphiwe on a new regime under the supervision of Heidleburg Hospital. Once a month they go for a visit to the dietician, speech therapist, and physiotherapist. We also welcome to our team our new House Mum, Mary, from Lesotho. She will be working the opposite shift to Victoria after some training. This last month also saw Dave preaching in the UK. Thank you for all who supported his meetings. Dave is also visiting the UK from June 25th to July 15th, if you want to meet with him. His UK contact is 0161 737 2996 or cell phone 07771544456. Our health has not been too bad. Dave, though, has been diagnosed with Arthritis David Royle on his C spine and lumbar spine areas, and is undergoing hydrocortisone treatment. Lyn is having a course of antibiotics at the moment, so please pray for them as the winter months arrive. Chris will be taking leave from July 16th to visit friends and family in the UK for three weeks. Again please pray for Chris as he takes a well deserved rest. One of the best gifts we have received was a generator that we reported on last year. With the South African power crisis now in full swing this has been a life saver in keeping our medicines cool and ensuring the whole plot works well. Power is down every other day, and on top of this there are the regular breakdowns and electrical storms that interrupt the service. We had visitors the last two weeks. My son Anthony and his wife Liz, our grandchild Levi and Liz’s Gran, Barbara. Anthony preached the two Sundays he was here and it was a joy to see how his teaching skills are being developed under the guidance of Pastor Leonard James from Woodhill Baptist Church in Colwyn Bay. (If you are holidaying in North Wales give them a Sunday Visit) Our youngest son Aaron and his fiancée Erin celebrated the British round of engagement celebrations. It was good to receive photos of the event, and everyone from both sides of the family looked glowing. It was a great shame that we could not have been there. Tanazania Mission Report Our trip to Tanzania was long overdue. Allen Wells and I had looked forward to this for months and it was with great anticipation that we boarded the plane to Dar Re Salaam, and then onto Kilimanjaro. I had first met Pastor Norbert two years earlier while on Mission in Kenya and he had willingly agreed to take on the role as our mission’s representative in this vibrant yet poor country. I went there to see the progress of Moriel Missions Tanzania, now an official government non-profit organization, and I was really impressed with the progress under Norbert’s leadership. Our first day was a trip to the Moriel HQ. Twenty acres of land given freely by the Tanzania government is being developed into a mission station that now has a school for vocational and biblical training. The journey there was not easy, and everyone winced as the underside of the vehicle was scraped by the terrain and the exhaust almost ripped off. The 30 kms took nearly two hours to travel in the blistering heat with seemingly no air. One of my duties was to give certificates to the hard-working students, most of whom are orphans. Here they learn agriculture, computer skills, tailoring. English was taught at the church run by Pastor Nelson, a lovely man of God. Not only is the land being developed for growing, but a mill has been purchased that strips the maize kernel from the husk, then transports it to the milling machine for flour production. The Moriel land is next door to a village, and the ladies have formed a cooperative that helps one another with the milling as well as funding a minicredit union for the poorest among them. As well as crops, it is hoped that they can raise cattle, goats and chickens to feed the growing number of orphans and widows. A cattle shed has already been erected, and we hope to be able to encourage donations of animals for the upkeep of this needy community. One of the nicer duties was to pray for the local pastors and leaders so that they could be set aside as ministers of the Gospel with Moriel. Although we are not a credential-giving mission (most of us are with CMFI) it was with a sense of occasion that we were able to set these men aside. The final act of our time on-site was to meet with the government and villagers who expressed their support for our work. The next visit of the day was to a village down the road where Moriel supports a substantial orphans and widows project. The local community has given us two acres of land to develop and, although we could not get to see the land due to the rains and road conditions, Norbert’s vision for the place is truly wonderful. Most of the people here are Masai, and it was heartwarming to be received with song by both widows and children. The next day we were to set off to Tabora where Moriel has churches and a radio program that reaches over two million people on Radio Tabora. The ministry here is struggling to pay the $160 per month it takes to host the show, and it is our hope that a sponsor may be found very soon so we can preach the Gospel and broadcast some good Bible teachings from the likes of Jacob. Unfortunately, we could not arrange transport to this area (about ten hours by car), so the next day we were taken to another remote region to visit a Masai village. Our purpose was to undertake house-tohouse evangelism and to set aside the village’s pastor of our Moriel church. The road to the village was even worse. At one time we had to get out and push the vehicle that had gotten stuck in mud. The local farmer was not happy as we had to push onto his land and his panga looked very menacing. Most of us got covered in mud, but eventually we were free to go on with our journey. The village is made up of simple mud and straw huts. It has no power, no running water. The people collect orange rainwa- Moriel South Africa ter from wheel ruts on the dirt road. They use this water for washing, cooking and drinking. Theirs is a desperate situation. Infant mortality is high, HIV infection is growing, and the children appear malnourished and sickly with opportunistic diseases evident. But despite the lack of water and desperation we were welcomed from house to house to share the Gospel. And not only was there a lot of interest among the majority of pagans, but we had the honor of leading one Masai lady to Christ. The afternoon ended with a meeting at the church tent. The pastor has built a wonderful construction paid for with donations of wood and material from Moriel. The praise and worship was awesome and it was great to lay hands on the new pastor. The ladies of the church came and gave us food at the end of rice and beef. However, even though it tasted great we couldn’t bear to eat it with so many hungry children looking on. So we asked that the food be taken and shared among the children. Our next trip was to the church of Pastor George. Pastor George, his wife and five children were in a desperate situation. Their small congregation is so poor it cannot support even the building. Pastor George’s house costs $20pm and the Church also $20pm. In fact, they were on the verge of being kicked out penniless onto the streets. At this church we preached the Gospel and also were introduced to government leaders. Pastor George and his family are good people. We enjoyed their fellowship and hospitality, and despite the desperation, they never complained once but were in fact so passionate about the Lord that you sensed they would have it no other way. So what did we learn, and what are our recommendations for your prayer? We are amazed at what has been done in such a short time by Norbert and his team. They are to be commended for their vision and energy. While at the Moriel HQ we met a retired nurse whose vision it is to set up a mobile medical clinic. This is desperately needed and could save the lives of many children. The following link is to a USA company that could supply the ideal vehicle for the kind of terrain at a cost estimated at $7000 with transport to Kenya and fitting of back box. • Clean water is an issue. The people are desperate. • Energy is an issue. We could easily set up a solar station that could serve the village. • Pastors if they are to travel and preach done by creating a ministers account administered by the Moriel Tanzanian board to help out when needed. June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 41 Moriel South Africa – Continued • Equipment such as sewing machines, electrical generators and of course animals are needed. We also had the privilege to meet our Kenya administrator PS Moses who came with John, his board member, as well as our new administrator for Rwanda, Burundi and DRC PS Deo. PS Moses relayed the awful events in Kenya and how Moriel is helping feed and meet the needs of some of the 600,000 people displaced through ethnic violence. Please pray for the brethren there who are being stretched to the limit. PS Deo comes from a country that, after the awful ethnic cleansing, is having a new start. He related how the Lord is working and the planting of churches is going ahead. We hope to visit Rwanda in the future. All this takes money and, of course, the expertise to implement these things. But I am sure that this is doable and that through these measures we could see the sustainable growth of this ministry that blessed our hearts during this brief visit. I will be going with Jacob in June, and I pray that in the meantime the Lord will burden hearts to enable us to help Moriel Tanzania to reach the pagan people of the Masai with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to save the lives of countless children. Kenya Update Thanks to our Missions supporters we have now purchased land for Moriel Missions Kenya. This has come at the perfect time as the rains for planting have just arrived, and so Ps Moses and his team have begun to plant quick-growing crops to help feed the growing number of orphans and widows Aletheia Since the move from Strubenvale in Springs to Ebyown which is on the edge of the informal settlement Kwazinzele, the fellowship has started to show steady growth after initially losing some families. Dave and Salvador are busy training Zack to become pastor, and services are now fully bilingual. Aletheia is a very interesting place to be for Sunday morning worship. At present we have only one Sunday meeting at 10:30am. Zack and Sal, with his wife Di, conduct Bible studies on Kwazinzele during the week. One of the needs identified is for Zulu Bibles. We have had a kind donation from supporters in Australia and we hope to add to this in the near future. Prayer Items • That Jacob’s tour of South Africa 42 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly produces lots of good fruit • For Sal, Di and Zak as they evan- gelize Kwazinzele • For our trip to Tanzania • For Dave as he visits the UK in June • For our health • For Lettie as she settles into her new home • For protection from the evil one as he uses violence to get his will on Kwazinzele • For a wheelchair-friendly vehicle How can you help? • Prayer is important, but also the helping hands and the finances that enable us to do what we do. So please consider the following: • Receive a regular news update either by e-mail or hard copy. Just send your address to us and we will pop one in the post for you or e-mail it to you. (although e-mail to save mail size will be without pictures) • Secondly, you can apply to be a longterm missionary. If the Lord burdens you and you want to investigate more, please contact us. Unfortunately we are not taking any short-term missionaries at present due to space, but those willing to take a year or two out for the Lord are welcome to apply • Finally, you can give a one off gift or a regular monthly amount to cover the costs of mission. This is simple to do. Just contact the following people, or you can contact any Moriel office and they will assist you. In Jesus, Dave Royle Director, Moriel Missions Contacts UK MR & MRS B Royle 2 Cressington Close Off Cedric Street Salford M55JS Tel: 0161 737 2996 Email: <mailto: [email protected]> jo.world.com Quotes of the QUARTER ! Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. George Washington The Roman Catholic Church & Sexual Abuse of Children Available NOw New Release! The Roman Catholic Church & Sexual Abuse of Children is for the sake of the victims, and of truth itself, we must speak the truth, we do so without malice for Roman Catholic people whose very own children are the victims of these unspeakable sex crimes. We recognize that it is Roman Catholic children who have been the victims of these breaches of trust, we want only to examine the claims and address the facts. While it is not our purpose to assail Roman Catholics, those whose allegiance is not to the irrefutable truth, justice for innocent victims, and the protection of their children and grandchildren, but to an organization or institution (no matter how guilty of corruption that institution may be), will indeed be offended. We encourage all of our Roman Catholic friends to prayerfully read and examine the Holy Scriptures for themselves, and we invite all Roman Catholics to visit our Web site: www.moriel.org. Place your order @ www.moriel.org MESSIANIC CHRISTOLOGY by Arnold Fruchtenbaum Th.M., Ph.D. Available NOw New Release! Messianic Christology is a study of Old Testament prophecy concerning the First Coming of the Messiah. Dr. Fruchtenbaum works his way through the Old Testament following the first century Jewish arrangement of the books, the arrangement that Jesus was familiar with. He shows from The Law, The Prophets and The Writings... how the revelation of the Messiah gradually progressed and built-up to reveal a magnificent picture of the Deliverer to come. The Hebrew Scriptures formed the very basis for evangelism in the New Testament. First, Jesus with His disciples, and then the disciples themselves used the Old Testament to substantiate His claim to be the Messiah. When the messianic expectations of Hebrew prophecy are fully understood, it becomes clear that Jesus and only Jesus can fulfill these requirements. Your Letters and Comments Letters & Comments Hi Sister Carol: I am writing, first of all, to let you know how much we enjoy and are learning about the Truth of God’s Word by listening to Brother Jacob’s teachings. My husband and I and Brother and Sister in Christ have been getting together weekly to watch Brother Jacob’s DVD’s and have been thoroughly enjoying them. I want to thank him for being obedient to the Word of God by exposing the false prophets and contending for “the faith”. My husband and I and Brother and Sister in Christ are former Roman Catholics and, like Brother Jacob said, we began reading the Bible and are so grateful to the Lord for freeing us from the bondage of religion. We left the Roman Catholic Church with no intentions of ever stepping foot into another one of their churches. PRAISE GOD - FOR WHOM THE SON SETS FREE IS FREE INDEED!!! AMEN!! Thanks again and may the Lord continue to bless you and your ministry, in Jesus’ name. AMEN!! God Bless!! In Jesus’ Name, Diana, Maurice, LA Discernment Mr. Prasch, Thank you so much for your teaching in Fargo! My husband and I were listening here in Minneapolis, Minnesota via the internet. We were saying “Amen!, preach it”. Your teaching was clear and direct, just what people up there (and everywhere) need to hear. It is my hometown so I know the churches up there - filled with entertainment and programs. Your passion and love for the truth is evident, warning the flock, caring for people’s souls. Small world - my brother Fred drove you to the airport. :) We will continue to pray for those that heard the conference, that their eyes would be open to the deception and error in the church today and embrace the biblical gospel of repentance and faith, law, sin, wrath, hell, blood atonement, the cross, substitutionary atonement, resurrection, complete forgiveness, amazing love, grace and mercy, etc. You know, all the things that most “pastors” leave out as they preach purpose and felt needs. May God richly bless your family and ministry. I appreciated your recent article on the Todd Bentley, the latest False Profit, and the newest false revival. Years ago, I was a follower of one of these bogus preachers sprouting about miracles of gold teeth in revival meetings. I later found out it was really about the money to be made off of gullible Christians. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ that I was delivered from the need to follow after such men. The Lord Jesus Christ told his followers to take need not to be deceived by anyone in the endtimes. These false prophets and apostles will continue until Jesus comes for His Church. Washed in his precious blood, Sherry Kimball Minneapolis, MN Church Affiliation: Twin City Fellowship, Pastor Bob DeWaay Reply: Dear Sherry: Thank you for your encouragement. I have spoken to Pastor DeWaay by phone and he is a good man. In Jesus, JJPrasch R, Oregon Reply: Hi Guys - God is still on the throne. Yes, there’s false prophets, teachers, etc. out there but people are delivered from them. We hear of so many churches falling off the wayside & when people question they are given a hard time & end up leaving but it sure is nice to here there are people that see the truth that are caught up in it & get out. I love a happy ending. In Jesus, Carol @ Reply: Dear Diana: Thank you for your encouragement. May the Lord bless you. In Jesus, JJ Prasch Fargo conference @ Newsletter Todd Bentley While you are busy tearing down the work of the Lord through Todd Bently - using verses that have nothing to do with what’s going on, and use the Word out of context to beat him over the head with your reliJune 2008 • Moriel Quarterly 43 Letters & Comments/Jacob’s Tour gious spirit ... we are enjoying the Gospel = The blind see - the sick are healed - dead are raised - the lame walk - people are more in love with Jesus - a multitude turn their lives over to the Lord and are saved .... Those are good fruits Where have we heard those words before? Could this be Jesus’ ministry when He was walking on earth? - but yet, just like today - the pharisees said He was of the devil! Todd does pray to the angels - angels, according to the scriptures - are serving us! - Todd gives all of the glory to God - His worship leader leads the people to the presence of God - songs that are sang are scriptural - They are praising Jesus - no one else! If you want to be offended with God’s choice as a tool in His hand - go right ahead - but meanwhile - we enjoy His presence - His love - we draw closer to Him = those are fruits that are good yours are very ugly and wicked! - that’s not pleasing to the Lord - I do not see ANY love or truth in your articles - just ignorance! and using the Word that has nothing to do with Todd - God does not look at the appearance of man but at the heart Jesus loved them all - He uses whoever is available - Again, He sees the Heart and not the appearance - when you criticise Todd - you are criticizing God’s choice No one is perfect - we are all sinners - that is, including you - no one will have all the answers either! Your words and false judgment are really sickening - and are far from giving justice - they do not draw people to the Lord - Todd’s love and compassion do draw people closer to Jesus. So what he has tattoos ? - Only a mature believer will be able to look beyond them and see the work of the Holy Spirit and the good fruits it’s producing. God does not seem to mind! You might ask for God to give you a little more wisdom and discernment of spirit - so you can repent in your judgment! Joëlle Reply: Dear Joelle, I am sorry to hear that you feel the way you do but you have no understanding in what you are talking about. None of the verses were taken out of context as that is exactly what is happening in light of Bentley’s ministry and those of his ilk. As well, you are the one with a religious spirit, as you have no idea what the word of God means, so you worship men, that is the meaning of a religious spirit. Pharisees did not follow the word of God literally, they used the ideas and teachings of MEN to make the 44 June 2008 • Moriel Quarterly word of God worthless. The teaching that people can be healed without repentance and holiness is a lie from the pit of hell and a teaching of Satan and men. You are the Pharisee and you better wake up out of your stupor and deception before it is too late. I suggest you watch this video, < h t t p : / / w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = _ K8XjObzfXM>http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_K8XjObzfXM Mark my words. This is how persecution is going to come full force to the USA. This fruitcake Bentley is going to wind up killing or severely injuring someone and the Police will be called to arrest him. Then there will be call to arrest all these sorts of preachers and the call to close down these churches. Since the church has not dealt with deception and false teachers God will. He will use those who are more evil to do it as He has already started to do, Islam, false religions, and the Law of the World. WAKE UP! According to the Word of God in Jeremiah you are stupid and asleep because you ignore the word of God, you don’t really study it or research it but just regurgitate the words of idiot preachers as I can tell by your comments below. Those are not my words (stupid & asleep Jer 4:22) but God’s. I am sorry to be so harsh but I cannot sit idle when someone spews garbage and they have absolutely not one iota of understanding as to what they are talking about. You are not enjoying the Gospel, but enjoying lies from the pit of hell and if you don’t run from it and get some truth and understanding from the PURE word of God you are in extreme danger. Lastly, let me say that I am in no way perfect. There is a difference between teaching false doctrine - what Bentley is doing, and daily overcoming the flesh. Everyday is a struggle for me like most believers to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. My flesh does not like to conform to the ways of the Lord and it is a constant battle of the will and going before the Lord in prayer and repentance. But everyday I put one foot in front of the other. I pray that you too may turn to sound doctrine and turn away from these false teachers and start on the path of righteousness. And this I pray, that your love (agape) may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent (discern between good and evil), in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;.... - Philippians 1:9-10 May the LORD bless you and keep you, Scott Brisk Be Alert! Moriel Ministries <http://www.Moriel.org>www.Moriel.org Jacob’s USA Tour August Sunday August 3rd - 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM, & 5:00 PM Calvary Chapel San Jacinto 1450 W 7th Street (directions) San Jacinto, CA 92582 951-654-1401 Saturday & Sunday, 16th & 17th Marantha Chapel 10752 Coastwood Road San Diego, CA 92127 858-613-7800 (Voice) 858-613-7824 (FAX) 16th - 6:00 PM 17th - 8:30 AM & 10:30 AM Sunday August 24th - 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM Calvary Chapel Tri City 2334 East Southern Ave. Tempe, AZ 85282 480-345-6200 Sunday August 31st-9:30 AM Ewa Beach Assembly Of God 91-836 Makule Road Ewa Beach, HI 96706 808-689-8844 September Sept 5th - 7th 2008 Great Lakes Prophecy Conference Calvary Chapel of Appleton 2136 E Newberry St Appleton, WI 54915 ( Map) 920-735-1241