Saturday, September 5, 2015

A HEARTFELT RECONCILIATION WITH ISRAEL

Hello folks, It is with a humble heart that I answered the invitation to speak at a conference in Jerusalem on September 16-18, 2015 entitled "Reconciliation With Israel." An Orthodox rabbi who is also the publisher of Breaking News Israel (with a Jewish and Christian readership of 100,000 daily) will be covering the conference. He has asked for articles from any of the speakers before the event relating to why we are participating.  Below is my article which reveals much of what motivates me altogether and which I felt to share with you, dear readers, as I know many of you share my thoughts and feelings.

The conference will be streamed live and will be available after the conference as well.  Go to: www.reconciliationwithisrael.com to register for watching the conference or to see the line up of speakers.

Here's my article: 

A Heartfelt Reconciliation With Israel

YHVH told Avraham that He would bless the world through his descendents.  And so He has. Much of the world would not be what it is today if it were not for Israel’s technological advancements in science, agriculture, geology, aeronautics, archaeology, communication or medicine.  But the “blessings” came from Jewish people long before Israel was restored to Statehood. To name just one specific instance of medical advancement, in the mid-1800’s  a Jewish doctor by the name of Ignaz Semmelweiss recognized that germs or microbes were the cause of death of both mothers and babies in an obstetric hospital in Vienna.  The number of lives that have since been saved through germ prevention is incalculable beginning with his three words: Wash your hands. Stories like this abound. God has surely advantaged the world through the wisdom and expertise He has given to the descendents of Avraham, Itzaac and Yaacov.

But not every person or every nation in the world, although they may be advantaged by Israel’s discoveries, recognizes the extent to which Jewish people have influenced their lives.  To the contrary, it appears today that Israel stands alone with the exception of very few friends. Among those friends around the world are those Christians who recognize Israel’s place in YHVH’s heart.  A group of those Christians have come to Israel to extend their hands of friendship with the intent of letting Israel know that they are not alone, that they recognize God’s specific call upon the nation and to let Israel know of their love for them as a nation and as a people.

They will be speaking at the up-coming Reconciliation With Israel conference that is taking place on September 16-18th at the Cinematique in Jerusalem.  Speaking as well will be several Israeli Jews whose life’s work for Israel brings them in contact with literally millions of Christians who are supportive of Israel, not only verbally but financially  – as the expression goes, “putting their money where their mouths speak.” 

The conference speakers, as well as the organizer and inspiration for the conference Kellen Davison, are here in Israel to show Israel that there are believers in Yeshua who are not their enemies as the “church” has too often been in times throughout history, but who recognize that YHVH gave the land to Israel so that they are supportive of Zionism, and that they stand against anti-Semitism that may exist today.  These Christian speakers are people who have largely incorporated the values of Torah in their lives to revere YHVH and to “love others as you love yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).  Most of them observe the Feasts of the Lord which God gave to Israel and who, through their love for Yeshua whom they recognize as the Jewish Messiah, have a deep love and reverence for YHVH in the way that Yeshua Himself did as the Brit Hadashah (the New Testament) reveals.

As early as the 2nd century, pagan practices and beliefs began to enter the church when the Jewish believers were well outnumbered and basically no longer there to bring correction to the errors.  Ironically, men who are known as “the church fathers” beginning from that time, stripped Yeshua of His Jewishness making Him seem like their gentile God. The 1st century real fathers of the faith were in fact Jews who lived entirely Torah-consistent lives by faith and the grace of God. The goal of the Christian conference is to help set right what has been wrong for too long. Their hope is that they can put to rest some of the gross misunderstandings of the Jewish people that the church has historically and erroneously believed which have resulted in immeasurable  sufferings and losses to the Jewish people. True Christians are as horrified as any Jewish person at the atrocities that were perpetrated against the Jews through those misunderstandings. 

Notice we use the term true Christian.  The terms “Christian” or “Christianity” did not come about until the second century and were never used by the original Jewish believers in Yeshua.  A true believer in Messiah Yeshua was someone whose faith included living by the unction of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) who would never have led them to distort or misappropriate the teachings of the God-given Torah, nor would the Ruach HaKodesh ever have motivated men to act in such ungodly ways against His people.  It has been quite possible, therefore, for men to call themselves “Christians” but to believe and act in opposition to what God (or Yeshua) would want.  Accordingly, there is a justifiable distinction between the politically motivated “church”  or the distorted ideas of man who thought they were acting for God but clearly were not, and those true believers who were usually a minority and were often persecuted themselves for living as they believed the first Jewish believers in Yeshua would have.

The conference belief is that to misunderstand the place of the Jews in their relationship with God is to misunderstand God Himself.  As the conference will be streamed live around the world and continue to be available online, the messages are largely to set erroneous facts straight on both sides:  To set aright the distrust that Israel and the Jewish people world-wide justifiably have for the church at large, letting them know that there are Christians who genuinely love the Jewish people and who love Israel and are standing with and for her, and to help the true church to understand the place of Israel in YHVH’s plan of tikkun olam (restoration of the world).