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HOW SHOULD
THE CHRISTIANS FINANCIALLY BLESS ISRAEL ?
The Church is waking up to discover a
major key in the Word of God. It is a key that releases
the full blessings of the Lord. In
Genesis 12:3, the Lord tells Abraham that He will bless
those who bless the seed of Abraham.
Here is a radical, literal promise
not to be removed by spiritualizing
the
Word. We must allow God to speak for Himself.
When
the God of Abraham, declared those words, He was referring to the physical
descendants
of Abraham through Isaac (Gen 21:12) in
Isaac your seed shall be called and Jacob (who became Israel Gen 32:28
), - the Jewish people.
The restoration of secular
Israel on May 14th 1948 was a miracle. The
return of the 5 million plus Jews who have come home
to Israel, and continue to come daily,
is also supernaturally inspired and
energized. Another
supernatural
restoration is currently taking place in Israel. On the Biblical
Festival of Shavuot ( Pentecost ) this year, Tents of Mercy leaders
baptized
39 new believers as they celebrated the festival beside
the Sea of Galilee. Until recently, this number of
Jews coming to faith in their Messiah,
has not been seen since the early days of
the Church in the first century.
Israel's rebirth and ongoing
restoration have brought a vivid revelation to many Bible believing Christians. God is not
yet finished with Israel - as Paul states emphatically in Romans, "Certainly
not" (Rom 11:1). Hundreds of thousands of Jesus' followers have
come to
recognize
the supernatural nature of this "resurrection
from the dead" as pictured so graphically in Ezekiel's "dry bones" chapter 37. They have seen
the hand of God directing the return of the more than 5 million Jews who have returned to
Israel from every corner of the planet in the
last one hundred years.
God
clearly
tells us through
the Holy Scriptures that He has called the Gentiles to participate in the restoration of
Israel and the Jewish people. The prophet
Isaiah talks about the "wealth of the
Gentiles" Isaiah 60:11 Therefore your gates shall be continually open; they
shall not be shut day or night, that men may
bring to you the wealth of the Nations
Isaiah 49:22 speaks of the Gentiles carrying home
the sons of Israel in their arms and the daughters of Israel on their shoulders. This verse has been fulfilled by numerous Christian ministries that have been
raising large amounts of money from other Christians all over the world, to finance the
buses, ships and aircraft that have been carrying the returning exiles home
One such ministry alone has paid for
more than 50,000 Jews from the former Soviet
Union, to return to the homeland of their
forefathers, Eretz Yisrael (the Land of
Israel).
In Romans 15:27 Paul teaches the Romans that it is
their duty
to repay the Jewish people by way of material
blessings for the spiritual blessings that they ( the Gentiles) have inherited through
faith in the Jewish Messiah.
In 1st Corinthians 3:9, the Lord calls us His ' fellow-workers
.' Therefore, it is
scriptural
right and proper
for Christians to eagerly assist the Lord with financial resources as He continues to
rebuild and restore Israel. I want to applaud
those of you who are reading this article, who are already doing so and I want to encourage those of you who are not yet
sowing financial blessings into the physical seed of Abraham, to prayerfully consider
doing so.
Ultimately it will be to your own
advantage. American Pastor Don Finto wrote in his recent book Your People Shall Be My
People, " If the ancient promise in Genesis
12:3 is still true ( and he believes it is ), then
no nation, people group, church or individual will ever receive their fullest blessing, until they learn to love and bless the
Jewish people. "
For those of you who would join
with the millions of voices that have cried out "Maranatha Lord, come quickly,
"I draw your attention to Acts 3:21. "whom
Heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things as spoken by God through the mouth of His Holy prophets since the
world began" From this one verse it would appear that Heaven will not permit
the Lord's return until the prophecies of Israel's
complete restoration are fulfilled. Ought we not do everything in our power to co-labor
alongside the Lord as He * transforms Israel
into * the nation of priests that she was
called to be?
The Bible teaches that "unless
the Lord builds the house, they labour *in vain who build it." A good idea may not necessarily be
a ' God ' idea. With regard to supporting Israel, I want to
respectfully submit an example of
well-intentioned "labour" appearing to "build God's house" yet lacking
wisdom. It is a fact that millions of dollars
are being donated to secular and Orthodox Jewish causes by
many Bible believing Christians. I
am not referring to donations made to
organizations
involved in Aliyah ( helping needy Russian and Ethiopian Jews
come home ). Allow me to illustrate a
phenomenon in which many believers are
innocently involved.
Last year I was in the office
of an American pastor. He proudly began to
show me photographs of a Yeshiva (Orthodox
Jewish Bible school) that his church had donated hundreds of
thousands
of dollars to help
build. These Yeshivas teach against Jesus and
the New Covenant, and are for now, enemies of the Messianic Jews. The same pastor is among
many *who donate large amounts of money to the Temple Mount Faithful, an
organization
committed to
rebuilding
the Temple. To some
Christians that may sound like a good cause. However
this
organization
is
viciously
opposed to Messianic Jews and even accuses us of
destroying Jewish souls in a way worse than the Nazis did.
They believe the existence of Messianic Jews in Israel is preventing the
coming of the Messiah ( 1st coming ) and they seek to eradicate us by whatever means
necessary. And well-meaning but deceived
Christians are helping to fund the Temple Mount Faithful !
I even heard of a Christian sending finances to the Yad L'Áchim ( the Hand
of the Brothers ) -- the anti-missionary
organization
that is
responsible
for most of the
persecution of Messianic Jews in Israel .
To you, our dear brothers and
sisters, we Praise the Lord for every Christian who has a heart to bless Israel. However the above examples are just two of many in
which those directly opposing Jesus' modern Jewish disciples are being funded at the
expense of the Body of Messiah. So much more could be achieved in Israel, if we had the
financial support of the greater Body of Messiah around the world.
Christians are called to be the
Lord's fellow workers. What then are we doing working with the enemies of the Gospel ? The purpose of this communication is to encourage Christians
to think carefully, and more importantly, to pray about how and where to invest their financial support of Israel and the Jewish people. The Lord has called you to the Kingdom for such a
time as this, to play a specific part in His end-time
purposes for Israel, the Church and the world. Only He knows what that part
is and the only way you will know, is to ask Him.
Please feel free to contact Out of
Zion Ministries, if you would like more information or if we can assist
you in any way
David Silver
OUT OF ZION Ministries
Email us:
kiwi@netvision.net.il
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of ZION MINISTRIES