Guest Comment on The Israel Sovereignty (Annexation) Issue

This is part of the 6/25/2020 Arrows from Zion, so anyone who wanted could read it in full.

The following is by an intercessor in northern Israel who must remain anonymous. The person is a congregant of the Carmel congregation that I have had email contact with for over a decade.

6/14/20 (A congregant at Kehilat HaCamel ) Houses of Beauty ministry on Mt Carmel, Israel
at theriverofgod@gmail.com An IRS non-profit organization. You can donate through Paypal.  The email link for Paypal is beittiferet@gmail.com.  But if you don’t use Paypal, you can use this link

Dear friends, the Lord woke me up recently with a strongly highlighted thought. Every time I've needed to heal something that involved other people or situations, with challenges that seemed out of my control, or problems that escalated on top of each other, when I healed the related issues of my heart, giving them over to Christ, letting Him restore His kingdom within me, all the associated external problems immediately dissolved. On that recent morning, when the Lord shocked me awake into alertness, I wondered what He was cooking.  I'd seen this truth so many times it was like the law of gravity to me. It always worked, often miraculously. But it took all my guts to accomplish it. Why was He highlighting it now?

He asked some questions that took my thoughts to the next level: "What is the connection between your personal repentance and the health of My nation? Can your personal repentance transform the life of My country?" I knew the answer was yes, because God was making the proposition. But how? What was the connection between the health of my spiritual/emotional heart and the quality of life in Israel? In the United States?

I thought of Israel under the Judges. Each judge, anointed and chosen by God, turned Israel back to God. I thought of Daniel, repenting for his people, preparing the way for their return home. I thought of Yeshua on the cross. Me??? Did I have enough zeal to turn God's nation around? That sounded like hubris! Was God anointing me for that? He reminded me, "You are part of My Body, a kingdom of priests. Repeatedly, kings turned Israel and Judea back to me. Priests, by offering sacrifices, repented for themselves, on behalf of the people. I repented for all mankind and my sacrifice was accepted. You are a priest, you are the sacrifice, and you are part of Me, so yes, you are commissioned and anointed for this."

God had taken my thoughts to the next level. He turned my attention to Israel's land sovereignty issue, one of the many current global spiritual war zones. The land is YHVH's, not Allah's, our first covenant is to God Himself, many Palestinians who live in the territories would prefer to be under our government, and not under the Palestinian Authority, a number of them have privately confided this to me, and it is also documented ... but ... but ... We could start a major war. We could create terrible relations with our neighbors. We could alienate the world. Should we? Was this the time to act? Had we asked God what we should do, and when, with an open heart and mind? Or were we switching between different human agendas, locked into a rat's maze without God's wisdom of choice?

Further ... how did the model I described in the first paragraph apply to this issue? What was God highlighting?  If I forgive, if I find and release underlying issues, problems disappear. Satan's influence is eliminated, because his hold on me, removed at the cross, is repudiated by me. When I come under the cross's blessing through my agreement with Yeshua's Victory, Yeshua shows me the specifics of what I need to do, and following His instructions, I have the victory. But how does this apply to Israel? The mess in the Middle East and our role in it is unfathomably deep and murky. What can I see? Of what can I be responsible? Can I really stand in the gap for Israel in this situation? How?

The crux of the issue, as we all know, is a war between Satan and God, initiated by Satan, but allowed by God. It is fully manifested, in a war that has been ongoing, between Allah and God. We are not primarily looking at a racial issue, or a tribal issue, because much of Palestinian blood is Jewish blood, but we are looking at a spiritual issue, a war being conducted at the highest spritual levels. What can I do? The Lord took me back in history to 1967 and then, further, to the Gibeonites, in the Book of Joshua. In 1967, in six days, in a war that God miraculously won for us, punctuated by miracle after miracle after miracle, we gained the Sinai Peninsula, and regained the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem. The war could not have been more spectacular. Every nation on earth either stood against us or remained neutral. Nobody but God helped us, and His help was extraordinary. The war ended almost before it began, because God prepared the victory before it commenced.

Then we lost our headship, our victory, and signed an agreement, in exchange for peace, to give back the land we had conquered, to give back the Land that belonged to God. Putting our tail between our legs, we became the rump instead of the head. It should have been obvious to us that our enemies did not want peace, but nobody can see well when their heads are in the wrong place... We responded to international pressure, and perhaps our own desire to believe in peace. We did not fear man on the battleground, but we did fear him around the negotiating table. God fought for us on the battleground, but He did not seem to fight for us around the negotiating table. Why?  I believe He wanted us to honor Him, to choose Him above all else. I believe He sought our loyalty. He did not get it.  I cannot imagine He agreed with our choices, especially since neither side was speaking the truth. 

Later, in 1993, the agreement was clarified through the Oslo Accord. However, in Netanyahu's secretly recorded statement, in 2001, he explained how He circumvented the Oslo Accord, because he was not required to give up "military land," and he considered all of the Jordan Valley military land. Thus he privately considered the Oslo Accord null and void. Currently, he wants to legitimize Israel's ownership of the Jordan Valley. Many of us agree. But when we count the cost, is it the best bang for our buck? Possibly...

Let's reconsider the first paragraph. When I remove all the spiritually negative influences in a situation, claiming Yeshua's blood as my protection, repenting of my sins, forgiving and releasing the other party completely, and choosing to die to myself, the problem dissolves. (Rev. 12:11) Can I apply that  formula to Israel in this situation?  Can I change the current scenario for the better? Is that a better bang for our buck?

As I pray, God takes me back to the treaty Israel made with the Gibeonites in the book of Joshua. The Gibeonites lied to us, deceived us, and we signed a protective agreement with them, based upon their lies. We thought they were a people group from far away, but they actually lived close to us, only three days journey away, by foot. This treaty went directly against God's commandment that we kill all our neighbors. But God required Joshua to honor it, despite the deception, and Joshua even went to war to defend the Gibeonites. Then, over 200 years later, King Saul, perhaps unaware of this treaty, tried to annihilate them. In the latter days of King David's reign, there was a three-year drought in the land, and the Lord explained to David it was caused by King Saul's choice to break the Israelite treaty with the Gibeonites, and that he, King David, needed to make restitution to the Gibeonites in whatever manner they chose. When that happened, the drought ended.

What's the point? | Starting in 1967 we signed several peace treaties with people who deceived us, because they had no desire for peace. We also deceived them, because we had no intention of giving them all the land we conquered.  Since then, we have discovered the disastrous results of giving back anything. Breaking a covenant with God has serious consequences. This land is not ours, it is God's. Now, in this time of shaking, with God advancing, and the enemy trying to counter that advance, is God holding all of us accountable to this covenant of lies? Can we just break this covenant, because it breaks our  previous covenant with God, because God gave this land to us to steward, and because we trust in His support? Maybe ... but I am haunted by thoughts of the Gibeonites.

I approach God with Numbers 30. There, a daughter's vows can be canceled by her father, and a wife's vows can be canceled by her husband, if he disagrees with her decisions. I ask God if He is willing to cancel our vows. This is what I hear in response, "Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemy as yourself. Care for those who abuse you and take care of the widows and the orphans. Then I will hear your request for the land." I am reminded of how many times he has responded to my questions about the land by suggesting that we build hospitals, schools and places of employment in the occupied territories to serve as meeting grounds between ourselves and the Palestinians. He wants us to love those who have hurt us in the same way we love ourselves, making room for them in our hearts, minds, souls, spirits, and in our practical actions.

This is not the same thing as buying into the lie that if we give them land there will be peace. That is nonsense. We suffer everytime we try that. No, this is something different. Something outside of the box, outside of the maze. This is God's Love. I know we have tried similar things before and they have not worked, or they have only worked marginally. But God is highlighting this now, and I have seen the Lord bring about implausible blessings when I have trusted him. When He is ready to move, when I align with him, the results are amazing. I am beginning to see what the Master Chef is cooking for dinner. Expensive Grace. I pray it is followed by Radical Reciprocated Love for dessert. But in any case, I will follow our Master Chef's scriptural recipe of love. I will honor my covenant with Him, and I will follow His love directives for handling my covenant with my neighbors.

I start to pray | On Israel's behalf, I repent of breaking our covenant with Him around the negotiating table.  I repent of dishonoring Him.  I ask for His forgiveness and healing power to fall upon me and upon all Israel. I feel it descend upon me like a dove ...  I surrender the current situation to God, in humility and faith, the way King David did, regarding the drought with the Gibeonites. I pray for Israel's government to do the same.  I renew my personal commitment to love the Palestinians as myself and I ask the same for Israelis in general. I  surrender all the land of Israel to God, in exchange for His Shalom, for His Glory.  I repent of my fear of man, and my unwillingness to honor God when people stand against me. I pray the same prayers for Israel.  I repent of lying, of practicing subterfuge and deception to make life easier, and I pray the same for Israel.  I repent of any limitations in my love towards the Palestinians and the nations that surround us, and I repent of anything that stops me from hearing God's perfect solution to our problems. I pray for our people and our government to be filled with the same desires.

I choose to fully forgive the Palestinians and the nations that surround us.  I repent of taking any of their rejection of myself, as a Jewish Israeli, to heart. I hand my pain to God, so I can meet  them with an open heart, mind, soul and spirit.  I repent of practicing false hope, of expecting others to behave well towards me who still hate me, but I focus on my godly hope that YHVH will renew all our hearts in His Love. I pray for salvation for all of us. We need it desperately!

I can feel the pain, anger, resentment, hurts, even hatred, on both sides.  I pray about how to help heal with my prayers, how to accept these very difficult emotions, in love, and hand them to God with my prayers. Do God's terms support divorce?  Or re-engagement? Can we repent so deeply and align ourselves with God's  truth so highly, can we love so fully and reach out so compassionately, that Satan is dismissed and can't return? I think so. I believe so.  With our prayers, through spiritual warfare, according to God's terms, the enemy can be defeated, this time, before he even strikes.  Let's apply ourselves to this battle for God's Glory and His Namesake.  Hallelujah. 

Much of this letter is a prayer. Please join your prayers to mine. Let's watch God have the victory here and undo the intended course of history. It has happened before. It happened when Moses refused to continue through the wilderness without God. It happened when Jonah went to Nineveh. It can happen now. The truth of love can undo the evil that is about to commence. Please join me.

Lord God, O King of Peace, the One who brought us Perfect Peace, the One who is Peace, I submit to you that we are helpless in this. If we wait upon you, You will show us what to do. Please, stop us from creating a worse hell-on-earth through our impudence. Help us to learn our lessons about only being frightened of You, an eternally powerful God. I pray that you give us this victory of heart, will, emotion, mind and spirit before we proceed.

Lord, I acknowledge the difficulty in working things through with people who only want to reject us, who are influenced or controlled by spirits that hate You in us. But I also know that You are greater than that, and when You heal the wounds evil has caused, we can react from Your wholeness. Then, miracles happen, change happens, wholeness happens, and healing happens. I ask for this between Israel, the Palestinians, and our neighbors. I ask that you would miraculously help us to move our hearts forward in grace, in the same way you helped us with military victories. We can't do this on our own, but with your help, we can.

I know Israel as a whole is not repenting before you for her worldliness, but some of us are, and we are standing in the gap. I ask for Israel to be a truth telling, neighbor loving nation, regardless of how others treat us, and to reflect Your love and Your strength to the people groups who contend with us.

I believe, Lord God, that it is your perfect will that there would not be a natural war, but that the battle would be won in the spirit, and that peace would be restored on earth. God help us to position ourselves for that. I ask you to puncture our boils completely, so that all the infection can gush out, and the healing balm of your peace can be established here, for Your Kingdom. Let the war finish before it begins. Let it be your war, and not our war. Help us ... amen.

Not Just Semantics | Arrows from Zion 6/18/2020

Shelanu: It's Not Just Semantics 

by Donna Diorio

The recent Shelanu TV controversy that pitted Christian Zionist evangelicals against Israel's Messianic Jews brought the issue down to an unmistakable key spiritual issue.

Over the weekend I had to do a last minute edit on my article about the Shelanu controversy for the July 1st edition of the Messianic Times. In the process of doing the edit, the key issue for all the spiritual warfare finally came bubbling up to the surface in my consciousness.

 A great majority of Christians and almost all Jews who are not yet in the faith of Yeshua, assert that when a Jew comes to faith in Jesus, that means they have "converted to Christianity" and are no longer Jewish.

The next day I saw an article about Bob Dylan saying he still believes in Jesus. The Lutheran author stressed several times that "Dylan converted to Christianity." No, that is not what Dylan did, but that is also at the heart of the Shelanu TV controversy.

The spiritual opposition to Shelanu is not just semantics, and it is also not only based on fallout from Christian persecution of Jews. Jews and Christians took these same positions almost as immediately as the Gospel began to spread out from Israel into the nations.

This is a first century, pre-Christian-persecution-of-Jews, because for the Jews, the cross was an offense and a stumbling block from the beginning. As for Christians, the Jewish believers were quickly forgotten even prior to making the view official in the Nicean council of 325 AD. That move set believing Jews who still identified as Jews outside of the camp of Christianity. It was a political move to keep Christians faithful to the Roman hierarchy and so Christians would not revert back to seeing the Israeli Messianic Jewish leadership. If Christians saw Israeli Messianic Jews as the succession of the Apostolic first fathers, the first century Israeli Jewish Apostles,  how could the newly formed Catholic church claim the popes were the line of succession from the Apostle Peter? I am not being anti-Catholic, I am relating history.

So in all the centuries since, Christians and unsaved Jews have been in agreement on one thing: a Jew cannot be a Messianic Jew. Christian leaders through the ages pushed the idea that any Jew that came to faith in Jesus necessarily had to renounce all Jewish identity, and unsaved Jews pushed the idea that any Jew who came to faith in Yeshua was automatically no longer a Jew.

Both of those positions are wrong ... and that issue was the spiritual basis for the alliances that formed in the recent Shelanu controversy. It is so simple it almost escaped my recognition that this was the rallying point behind religious nationalist settlers and their Christian Zionist supporters in opposition to Israel's Messianic Jews having a channel to show that Jews can be in the faith of Yeshua without "converting to Christianity."

Consider this, the name for the new Messianic TV channel "Shelanu" was chosen with purpose because it is the Hebrew word for "Ours." What the Jews who put the new channel together wants and intends to do is to show Israelis that Jesus is not some foreign Christian god as they have been told. In fact, Yeshua was born an Israeli Jew in Bethlehem and He was raised Jewish in Nazareth. He fulfilled the Torah in His live on earth and the faith that was birthed in His resurrection was Jewish in the first century and is still Jewish today for every Jew.

At first I thought it was just ironic that unsaved Israeli Jews and their Christian Zionist allies united in opposition to the Shelanu TV channel calling it Christians forcing their faith on Jews. But it is not ironic, it is the very point of the spiritual warfare against Messianic Israelis.

Messianic Jews are every bit as Jewish as Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah they have placed their faith in. It is not just semantics that Jewish believers are called Messianic Jews rather than Christians. Once again, for the first time since the day of the Acts of the Apostles, there are thousands of Israeli Jewish citizens who live in the faith of Yeshua. Shelanu TV represents them as they say, Yeshua is OURS. Shelanu.

Arrows from Zion
Summarized from the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests Israeli Ministries by subscription only donna@israelprayer.com

First up, Shani Ferguson of Maoz Ministries writes some truths that can help us all in finding God's solutions to all of life's problems: 1. He is the only judge of what is just and what isn’t. 2. His timing is the only clock that matters. 3. His plans are often the opposite of what human wisdom would suggest. 4. Sin does not happen in a vacuum, and always affects others who weren’t involved. 5. If you’re patient enough, God can use sin committed against you to make your life better (Romans 8:28). 6. As long as you’re breathing, there is always hope!

It's really hard to edit her prayer points ministry this week because it is chocked full of wisdom on some dividing issues of the American violence that has spilled over into Israel and many other nations: " Jews have been historically wronged, perhaps more than any single people group in existence (I write extensively about it in the July Maoz Israel Report), but how they have responded has allowed them to become one of the most successful nations on earth— only 70 years after half of them were slaughtered. I’ve been approached before by people directly involved in recruiting Nazi youth. They wept on my shoulder and repented. I extended my forgiveness to them—but it was for their sake. I hold no animosity towards them—and definitely not towards their descendants. I say it because I believe there are powerful people using the media and their voices to keep minorities defeated and bitter— convinced they can’t succeed because they’ve been wronged too many times. That is simply not true. For the record, I’m all for deep repentance, reform and change! Let’s let God clean house! However, these powers continue to accuse and condemn even after people express their sorrow and regret. Those are telltale signs of the enemy’s tactics, and as such, we must pray fervently that voices of truth will be heard above the chaos.... Father we ask that for all those who are crying out for justice—that You would stand up and identify Yourself as Justice. For those crying out for things to be made right – that You would stand up and identify Yourself as the standard of all that is good and right."

On the point of forgiveness, she continues: "To me the most beautiful story of forgiveness is that of Joseph and his brothers. Not simply because he was able to forgive them for selling him into slavery, but because he was able to see their sin against him was part of God’s plan. Had they not wronged him, Israel and all his children and grandchildren (including Joseph) could’ve starved to death from the famine. In addition, Joseph even encouraged his brothers to forgive themselves. We don’t always see what God has going on behind the scenes when our life goes wrong. But we know that forgiveness is a superpower that cannot only heal us, but the one who wronged us. In addition, we are warned that if we do not forgive the sins committed against us, we will not experience God’s forgiveness and the freedom that comes with it."

You can also find Shani's writing in the June 2020 Maoz Israel Report: How David Became a Psalmist which is a TRULY amazing testimony of David and Lisa. And " For all the bad commentary the Children of Israel deservedly receive for their behavior in the desert, they don’t get enough credit for The First Thing Israel Ever Did.

Dani & LuAnne Sayag write that you can watch all the Carmel Congregation services on Facebook - midweek, welcoming the Shabbat (Friday night) and Shabbat services (Saturday morning) Learn more about this congregation on MT Carmel at their website

From the Kehila News Israel site here are just a few of the items I recommend: Eric Tokajer writes a powerful, biblical look at bigotry in Some Sin Can Only Be Seen Through the Eyes of G-D. Also the only Messianic preschool in Jerusalem facing closure after devastating COVID shutdown. Ron Cantor wrote about the Israeli bus driver could lose job after taking about Yeshua on the job but today the religious Jewish newspapers are reporting the man has been fired and of course, Yad L'Achim is claiming victory.

Michael and Dina Beener of the City of Life in Sderot send their gratitude to those who are remaining involved in their ministry during the challenges to every due to Covid 19. They have been following the guidlines of authorities while the fulfilled "essential" work to families left helpless in their city. They also moved all their ministry services to the internet, but some things like delivering infant and adult diaper meant going shopping for those under strict quarantine unable to leave their houses for any reason, and of course food distribution to the needy. To help them help their community donate via PayPal or Click here

"Annexation" has a certain connotation which Chuck Cohen of Intercessors for Israel (and many others) it the wrong word to use entirely. Sovereignty is the better word as Chuck says, " is God orchestrating the retaking of another 30% of Judea and Samaria for His people today." That does not mean it is not a highly controversial subject right now in Israel and also among the nations. There are many fears in Israel and many pressures outside of Israel not to take sovereign control of the 30% of Judea and Samaria that is being discussed. Chuck has some excellent prayer points for intercessors on this issue and also the issue of preparations that need to be made if the land is retaken by Israel. See it in the Friday Prayer Points 6/12/20  plus the other 10 prayer points he includes.

The Aliyah Return Center is a village in the Jordan River area set up as a place for Jewish immigratnts - an absorption & housing villiage that also does much more for immigrants. They have a new series of 16 videos to explain the work they do with the first being What Is Aliyah?. Also watch this video of their distribution to African immigrants being helped by Usumain Barka from Sudan talked to us in south Tel Aviv. They also sent Dean & Patti give their testimony who have been a major support the Israeli ministries for many years.  And this invite visit our new website and download our beautiful prayer guide

From Revive Israel Ron Cantor shares his A Prophetic Word for America in writing and in a message from the new weekly video Praise, Prayer, Prophecy and Preaching from Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth. Also a new Revive 'Meet the Team' email introduces new people serving at Revive, like an Israeli Christian Arab and his wife who are both serving Revive. Also the new Director of Communication for Tikkun International and Revive Israel is a young man who is the son a Japanese father, Lebanese Italian mother, born in Brazil and American! They write about the new video outreach Revive is doing internationally, the outreach to the Spanish world, Shelanu TV and Beith Hayeshua, which is the rehab center for the addicted. Those who support the Revive Israel ministry receive these emails several times a year.

Israel Pochtar of the Beit Hallel writes about Believing Lawyers Look at Aid New Israeli Immigrants. "Immigration of Jews hasn’t stopped since Israel was first established. To this day, Jewish people are returning to Israel from all over, but especially from Russia and Ukraine. The circumstances of their departure are often very harsh, and people leave to return to their ancient homeland with hope of a better future for their families. The reality many face when they first arrive in Israel is oftentimes overwhelming." He also writes, The Desert's Silence Serves a Purpose — God's Voice is Heard the Loudest There. Read and watch his short video online.

From the latest Tikkun Global magazine: "The big news in Israel is the possible upcoming annexation of certain areas in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). This is a tricky situation. On the one hand, this is land that God himself promised to the Jewish people, and it was stolen from them by the Romans. There is no statute of limitations on God's promises. However, on the other hand, there are thousands of Palestinians whom God loves, who live in that area. Let's be in prayer for Prime Minister Netanyahu to be led supernaturally by the Spirit of God."

Also these articles from Tikkun ministers: Dan Juster's A Modest Proposal for Theological Integrity. Eitan Shishkoff's Eitan Shishkoff. Asher Intrater's God Told Me!…Really? and Also Executor of the Wrath of God

Messiah's Mandate is Ron Cantor's personal ministry, he writes: "I am thrilled to report to you that Shelanu TV is still live and broadcasting in Hebrew to a potential 700,000 homes (over 3,000,000 people‚ Jewish and Arab). Of course, they are not all watching (YET!), but we trust that God will use this channel to reveal the Jewishness of the Messiah to His ancient people. Your gift today will help us create more online content in Hebrew! Our media team just finished making our second teaching video in Hebrew. The first one aired on Shelanu TV on Shabbat."

He also sends news reports AP fires Palestinian journalist at PLO's request, compromising all journalistic integrity, Gulf state diplomat publicly appeals to Israel against annexation to preserve the progress made with Jewish State and Anti-Israel BDS uses George Floyd death to promote anti-IDF blood libel (as in LIE!)

Urgent HEALING Needs: Life and Death is in the power of the tongue

Please keep in prayer these Israeli ministry leaders and believers with urgent health needs

URGENT PRAYER NEED A prayer request for Naomi, for a dear family that is a part of Israel Pochtar's pastoral team, who was diagnosed recently with colon cancer. "Despite what this battle entails, we are confident in God’s unfailing Word and promises." Read in her own words, as she has been prepared for chemotherapy which will begin next Monday. | Ronit Bender whose cardiologist told her that her irregular heartbeat is SEVERE, and is suggesting further tests. Please intercede for Ronit: No weapon formed against her shall prosper! | Olga Bikas severe back pain has kept her in "quarantine" for the past 4 years or so! Please pray for God to do a miracle of healing for Olga. | Please pray for Rachel Netanel's brother who is recovering | Please continue to pray for Jacob Damkani for the LORD's mercies over Jacob and his dear wife, Elisheva  | Continue please to pray for Ruth Nessim Critical prayer need she is losing sight! Prayers for a miracle for Ruth.| Pray for Rania Sayegh who asks for prayer of restoration of strength, energy, and complete healing.

Revolution and Biblical Worldview
by Daniel Juster
Restoration from Zion, Jerusalem

I have been greatly saddened to see the extent to which younger Christians and Messianic Jews are saluting revolutionary social movements that are opposed to the Biblical World View.  Perhaps they do not realize this incompatibility. 

As I reflect on history, it seems that every social revolution that was not directly motivated by the biblical worldview or indirectly influenced by this world view, has led to destruction. The Roman Catholic Catechism amazingly warns against utopian movements that are not based on biblical norms, and as you know I am not a Roman Catholic, but this statement is amazing.   

“The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come . . .”

Let’s just recount a few of these revolutions, biblical and anti-biblical.

The Biblical normed movements include the following:  the anti-slavery movement in England led by the famous Evangelical William Wilberforce who was friends with former slave trader John Newton who wrote the famous hymn Amazing Grace.  Then came the anti-slavery movement in the United States backed by Jonathan Blanchard, the founder of Wheaton College, the famous revivalist Charles Finney, and the  Stowe family, the most famous of which is Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her father and brother were anti-slavery ministers. Then in recent years the biblical-based civil rights movement under Rev.  Martin Luther King. The biblical movements all hearken back to the idea of all humans having equal worth and created in the image of God. (U. S. Declaration of Independence). In Acts 17:26 we read, “From one He made every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having set appointed times and the boundaries of their territory.” 

However, the anti-biblical movements led to death and destruction. The French revolution and its guillotine, the Russian Marxist revolution, and other terrible Marxist examples: China, Cambodia, and today in Venezuela. As Satan masquerades as an angel of light, we should note that the movements of our day may indeed come from an antichrist spirit. The Devil, we read in John 10:10 comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Tens of millions have been slaughtered. Marxist phrases like “To each according to his need and from each according to his ability,” sound so attractive but can be so deceptive as they call for a leveling equality tyranny. 

Today, we find ourselves in a situation of tragedy in the loss of a black man by the name of George Floyd and the police abuse of other blacks. We also see the carnage of black on black crime, 7500 killed and we are not supposed to mention this. Why?  Because the revolutionaries do not want us to see the whole picture but to focus on the anti-police anti-American ideas they put forth. A biblical conscience should be deeply outraged by all this pain. There should be movements of believers to clean up police and to lift the lives of our minority friends who are equally valued.

However, we now find the leaders of movements of deception were ready, poised to take advantage of the situation, spreading violence, utopian anarchist messages, Marxist ideology, and more. When they occupy part of a city, they steal the property rights of the citizens. When they demonize police, they demonize many who give their lives to protect the people.  They violate Romans 13 that exhorts us to respect the civil authority and the power of the sword in authority.  

The views and tactics of these radicals are anti-biblical. They single out white people and include Jews in that category! Yet in the Bible, we speak of many ethnic groups. They are white, black, yellow, and every shade and style of bodily form.  All are created equal. White-skinned people have many different backgrounds from many ethnicities, some nations with colonial history but some having no such history. From the European nations have come the very ideas of civil rights and human rights that we seek to extend and advance (especially England).

The atheist historian Tom Holland in a recent book notes that all we value in rights, tolerance, and mercy come from the influence of the biblical world view. Amazing!  However, when Martin Luther King spoke biblically, he rightly said that human beings should be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin. When whites are being made to repent for white privilege and especially white group guilt, this is the spirit of communist re-education camps not real biblical repentance for sin. Of course whites in America today are by percentages more privileged. But in the Bible, this would not be cause for repentance for a special original sin type guilt. It would be a source of gratitude for all that has been received in God’s providence and then would require a responsibility to lift those who are not so privileged. White guilt in America could have value as a concept if those who are privileged of all races do not seek to lift those who are less successful. But repenting for whiteness as inherently evil is anti-biblical. I do think the American Church has reason for repentance in not focusing its primary efforts to the poor, for the Gospel is the greatest liberator.

In a biblical world view, we must not identify with movements that single out people of any color for special guilt or praise on account of skin color and ethnicity. All ethnicities have good things to be praised and bad things from which to be redeemed. We all are sinners. As such we can look at the sad history of the world.  It is not merely Europeans that have oppressed people.  All of world history shows one ethnic group oppressing and subjecting other ethnic groups. It is the nature of sin to favor those who are “like me” and to disfavor and distrust those who are not. The Bible speaks to this in the numerous texts on how to treat the stranger, demanding that the Gospel first be given to the poor to lift them and finally in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We ask the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and the parable answers the questions and extols the hated and marginalized Samaritan.

However, the Marxist influence in the Black Lives Matter movement, (and black lives really do matter), and the anarchist anti-police and anti-government thrust will lead to terrible destruction especially for the poor and marginalized. Believers must not enable or support these aspects of what is going on.   When people are asked to repent for being white this is more a communist shaming and re-education tactic than the Biblical call repentance before a holy God who says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  All are called to deep repentance before him, to search our hearts for any prejudice and by the Spirit to root it out of our hearts. We will never be perfect on the issue of preferring ourselves to others, but must always work against this selfish tendency. However, Christians and Messianic Jews must not cow-tow to Marxist and anarchist phrases and demands. We must call all to repentance.

In our universities, leftist ideologies have reigned. We have for 60 years sowed to the wind in our universities and in the United States are now reaping the whirlwind. The corruption of the movement for civil rights and lifting black communities is being corrupted with Marxist and anarchist ideas and will lead to more destruction. The only hope I see is in the Gospel and a massive revival beyond anything we have ever seen. Such is the deep darkness right now, but my hope is that the Lord will rise upon us.  (Is. 60)

            See this article online at the Restoration from Zion website

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Donna Diorio  donna@israelprayer.com or donna@d10r10.com
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