About Sam Our Bookstore Schedule a Speaker Partner with us
WMM in Israel: Feb. 4 - 11, 2015
"Our Short Israel Trip with a Big Good News Impact" by: Miriam Nadler
Upon arrival Wednesday evening, we went immediately to our first ministry opportunity, teaching at Ohr HaOlam (Light of the World) Messianic congregation in the city of Petah Tikvah. We have known their leader, Shmuel, for many years since he came to faith in Yeshua during our early ministry in the former Soviet Union. Shmuel is doing a wonderful work and continues to have his services in both Russian, for the older members, and Hebrew, for the children and youth. In reaching out to the large Russian community around them, they have reprinted several of Word of Messiah's tracts to use in their evangelistic endeavors. We were also encouraged to hear that our recently published Hebrew Messianic Discipleship book is being utilized to teach their young people the basics of the faith. Shmuel's feedback on our visit was encouraging, "We were pleased to welcome you to our service. The Lord has blessed us with good communication, an important spiritual supply, and strengthening trust. Praise the Lord!"
On Friday, we spent the day encouraging congregational planters, Moshe and Batel, who are reaching their community for Yeshua in the city of Karmiel in central Galilee. Sam continues to meet regularly through skype with Moshe to coach him in his role as a planter and assist him as he works to grow the new congregation.
On Friday evening, Sam spoke from Matthew 28 on "Dealing with Doubt," and focused on how the Lord deals with our doubts. Instead of scolding His doubting disciples, Yeshua spoke His Word of purpose and comfort for their lives, and reassured them that He would be with them always, enabling them to accomplish His will. The response to this message was one of renewed commitment.
In the service, Sam taught on "Yeshua the Messiah is Lord!" At the conclusion of his message, many hearts were moved. One person responded to the salvation invitation, and a number of others indicated their desire to trust in the Lord by committing specific areas of their life to Him. One person said, "As the Word of God was preached, my heart was pierced through and I have been thinking of how God wants to change me."
Later that Shabbat afternoon and evening, we met with the elders of the congregation as well as some young leaders and their wives. For three hours, Sam taught and led a discussion on essential leadership responsibilities, focusing in on the qualities that God expects from leaders, especially in their home life (1 Timothy 3:5).
The next day, Eric organized a Messianic Leadership Seminar in Haifa for Sam to conduct on the topic of "Handling Un-prayed for Changes in Congregational Life." The Lord blessed wonderfully, and 23 leaders from seven different congregations in the central Galilee area came for the teaching. At the end, there were comments such as, "I've been deeply challenged to reconsider what I had called 'idealistic,' though in reality I simply did not trust what the Scriptures teach in these matters."
On Monday, we met with several Messianic leaders in the land who were in need of personal and ministry counseling.
Our final day opened up several future ministry opportunities. We first met with Maoz Ministries, (a Messianic ministry in Israel) regarding their interest in sponsoring future Word of Messiah Messianic Planters Conferences in Israel. We've tentatively scheduled two conferences in the Land for 2016; please pray as we make specific arrangements for them.
We then traveled to meet with David, leader of HaGefen Publishers. HaGefen recently published the Hebrew translation of Messianic Discipleship, and are now being asked by Ethiopian Messianic Jewish leaders in Israel to also publish it in Amharic. When we asked one Messianic leader in Ethiopia what he thought, he exclaimed that this is historic and wants 100 books right away, for there's never before been any Messianic material in Amharic.
On the way to the airport, Sam was able to share the Good News of Messiah with our Israeli driver, Ami. He seemed curious to consider this faith. The Lord really filled our whole time in Israel from beginning to end with great occasions to exalt the name of Yeshua the Messiah.
Thank you for all your prayers; the Lord has blessed mightily! Now we need even more prayer as we follow-up on all these exciting opportunities!
A Tragic History
In the 2nd century AD, the groundwork was laid for a course of history where eventually the government and the church would declare the Jewish people as ‘fair game.’
“Anyone But Him”
Church father Justin Martyr wrote in Dialogue with Trypho that Jewish misfortunes were divine punishment from God: “Tribulations were justly imposed on you [Jews] for you have murdered the Just One.”
In the third century, the theologian Origen authorized the practice of interpreting the Bible allegorically rather than literally, so that authority lay with the teacher rather than with the text. As a result, teachers could read into the text what they wanted. This opened the door for much error, including the teaching that each biblical reference to Israel refers now to the church instead.
In the fourth century, under the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, the so-called ‘Christian faith’ was legalized and made the state religion. With the legalization of ‘Christianity’ throughout the empire, this hostility toward the Jewish people became widespread.
Concerning the Jews, Aphrahat (bishop at Mar Mattai, near Nineveh) wrote in AD 344, “He [God] has truly abandoned them,” while misquoting Old Testament portions to substantiate this claim (see, for example, Isaiah 1:4).
Augustine, in his Reply to Faustus, the Manichean, wrote of “the Jews as being guilty of Christ’s blood” and as being “cursed from the earth” and therefore “cursed by the Church.” Their subjugated and miserable state was to be preserved as “proof to believing Christians of the subjection merited by those who in the pride of their kingdom put the Lord to death.”
In AD 386-387 John Chrysostom delivered eight sermons degrading Jews in religion and customs: “God always hated the Jews”, and “It is incumbent on all Christians to hate the Jews.” On the occasion of a procession honoring the Maccabees (Hanukkah) in AD 388, the destruction of the synagogue of Calinicon took place immediately after a series of these anti-Jewish sermons were delivered.
In the Middle Ages during the Crusades, Jews were routinely murdered by Crusaders en route to the Holy Land. Upon arriving in Jerusalem in 1099, the Crusaders rounded up all Jews, herded them into the Great Synagogue there and set it ablaze. While it burned to the ground, the Crusaders marched around it singing “Christ We Adore Thee.”
Luther’s Errors = ‘Final Solution’
Anti-Semitism continued even during the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, who is a hero of many theology professors because of his historic stand for justification by faith, wrote three anti-Jewish tracts later in his life. These tracts expressed the following ideas:
(1) Jewish synagogues should be burned;
(2) Jewish homes should be destroyed;
(3) Jewish workers should be given menial tasks;
(4) Jewish money should be confiscated; and...
(5) Jewish people should be forced out of their communities.
The Church’s writings were not merely theoretical, but were applied with deadly effectiveness. For example, charges which resulted against the Jews in Europe included Blood Libel, Desecrating the Host, and Die Judensav (The Jewish Sow), Jewish economic conspiracies, and alleged Jewish rape of Christian women. During the Spanish Inquisition, thousands of Jews either died at the foot of a cross or were expelled from Catholic Spain. The “Final Solutions” of Orthodox Russia (1900) and Lutheran Germany (1935), proposed the elimination of Jews from Russia in the former, and from Europe in the latter (known as “Judenfrei,” or “Jew Free” Nazi policy).
Is it any wonder that a modern Jewish writer, Jules Isaac, author of Has Anti-Semitism Roots in Christianity? writes, “Hitler’s genocide was a final offshoot of the church’s perennial 'teaching of contempt' and 'system of degradation of Jews'” (pp. 17,18). He goes on to say, “Christian anti-Semitism, the powerful, and strongly rooted trunk upon which [in the Christian world] all other varieties of anti-Semitism are grafted, even those of a most anti-Christian nature” (ibid. p. 40).
How can we as believers today counter this sad history and share Messiah in ways that will effectively reach Jewish people? Stay tuned for the final part of this series, Part 3.5!
Sam will be speaking:
March 1, 11:00 am - Mt. Lebanon Baptist, Mint Hill, NC
March 1, 6:00 pm - Second Baptist Church, Mt. Holly, NC
March 6, 6:00 pm - Hope for Israel Congregation, Richmond, VA
March 7, 10:00 am - Adonai Shama Congregation, Richmond, VA
March 8, 11:00 am - Rock Hill Bible Fellowship, Rock Hill, SC
March 8, 5:00 pm - Secrest Grove Baptist, Monroe, NC
March 15, 10:45 am - New Covenant Church of Indian Trail, Matthews, NC
March 15, 3:00 & 5:00 pm - Jessup Grove Baptist, Pilot Mountain, NC
March 19, 11:30 am - Miriam at Catawba Heights Baptist, Belmont, NC
March 22, 8:00 & 10:45 am - North Syracuse Baptist, North Syracuse, NY
March 25, 6:45 pm - Oak Grove Baptist, Waxhaw, NC
March 29, 9:00 am - Day Spring Community Church, China Grove, NC
March 29, 6:00 pm - Pleasant Hills Christian Church, Liberty, NC
To schedule a speaker click here or call 704.544.1948
"The Maturing of Moses" by Sam Nadler
Leaders don't come ready-made. Rather, God takes the raw material of fallen, fearful humanity, and produces people that the world will never forget. Perhaps you will recognize God's work in progress in your own life as you consider the maturing of Moses!
6 MP3 Messages:
"From Resistant to Responsive"
"When Things Go from Bad to Worse"
"The Compromises of Pharaoh"
"Great Triumphs take Great Trials"
"One Secret Weapon in Spiritual Warfare"
"Insights for Successful Service"
for $8
Passover Special:
3 MP3 Messages from Sam
Buy 2 get 1 Free!
"The Lamb through Scripture"
"Messiah in the Passover"
"Alive Again!"
for $10
704-544-1948
info@wordofmessiah.org
Word of Messiah Ministries
PO Box 79238
Charlotte, North Carolina 28271 United States
____________________________
____________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment