Australia Jews for Jesus

Hanukkah 2009

2009-12-07T13:28:00.001+11:00

BLESSINGS OF HANUKKAH
Originally uploaded by fantartsy JJ * Busy off and on*

The lights will be lit, the dreidels spinning, the latkes frying... what a great time to be had by those who celebrate this holiday. The date roams around the December calendar, since the Jewish calendar is lunar. Each year, the holiday falls out on the 25th of Kislev, this year, that's 11 December. My family and so many others will gather worldwide to remember the holiday.

What is it we remember? The victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greeks, under King Antiochus Epiphanes in about 165 BCE. And the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. And the finding of special oil, enough to last one day, but it lasted 8 days, according to the story.

Jews for Jesus will be celebrating this holiday together on 18 December, the last night, when all 9 candles are lit in Sydney. Specifically in Five Dock. For the info, check here...
http://awesomechurch.com/messages_various_36.htm

Latkes, dreidels, singing, a Bible message...what else could you want?

You are most invited if you live nearby.
Celebrate with us; learn about God and his love for all people, and the desire he has for us to shine his light to the world.

Hey, hey, is it comedy?

2009-10-10T20:49:00.002+11:00

Controversy, worldwide controversy, was sparked last week in Australia. A group of medical doctors performed a skit on a television show on Channel 9. The show, “Hey, hey it’s Saturday!” was a hit for 27 years and many middle-aged folks remember the good old days of their youth. The fun features sketch comedy interlaced with cartoons popping up (much like an MTV popup) and interviews and celebrity guests.

Each two-hour show was packed with a kaleidoscope of guests both new and old plus the fabulous Hey Hey ‘live’ Band. And it wouldn’t be Hey Hey without Red Faces, Plucka Duck, Celebrity Head and many other classic bits.

[Pictured: Ozzie Ostrich and Daryl Somers in 1971]

So what’s the controversy?

Wednesday night on a reunion show, the doctors who performed the same skit 20 years ago, revived the Jackson Jive. (pictured)

Problem is the world is not the same as it was 20 years ago. We have grown and seen our world shrink in a new way. Isolation is not an option in the 21st Century. Good behaviour and bad behaviour are both more universal in scope and recognition.

What brought this to light?

Harry Connick, Jr is no stranger to Aussie television. The New Orleans-born singer has visited Australia many times over the years and even appeared back in the day on “Hey, Hey!” (It went off the air in 1999.) But Harry condemned the skit [, a parody of the Jackson Five in a ''red faces'' segment. The performers' faces were blacked up, apart from that of the comedian playing Michael Jackson] as racist saying the performers make blacks look like buffoons.

Some of the bloggers who defended the Jive said, "There is nothing racist about this ... it is a parody only of the Jackson Five, not black people in general.

Another said, "Michael Jackson hasn't been black in a long time ... race and skin colour are simply not of any significance to us here."

If only! Kudos to Connick. Kudos to Daryl Somers for apologizing on air within minutes of the embarrassing moments. Kudos to those countless bloggers who are in the majority and say “shame” on our country. We are behind the 8-ball and we need to come clean.

Just because ‘we’ve always done that’ or ‘we take the mickey out of everyone’ doesn’t mean it was ever right.

Name calling whether blackfellas or kikes or niggers…it’s just wrong!

Besides that, I thought the doctors/Jive were terrible. Their choreography lacked good timing, the steps were simple enough and they still couldn’t perform in unison. Their singing was flat and tired. I would have gonged them myself, long before the racist trouble; it was a bad routine.

So what about the comedy card? When can comedy parody an existing act? When can Sasha Baron Cohen perform Borat or John Safran play a black man?

The ABC television in Australia is set to air another episode of Safran’s show in a couple weeks. "Episode two will go to air as planned," says an ABC representative. "In this episode John makes a genuine attempt to see what it is like to walk in the shoes of others." Seems John for his new TV show has blackened his whole body.

I remember the book Black Like Me in the 1960s (book 1961, movie 1964) and am proud of Safran, whom I consider a friend, Safran has not just reached for the black shoe polish and a bad wig. His transformation was effected by Brian Sipe and Alexei O'Brien, Hollywood professionals whose credits include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

From Wikipedia: Black Like Me is a non-fiction book by journalist John Howard Griffin first published in 1961. Griffin was a white native of Mansfield, Texas and the book describes his six-week experience travelling on Greyhound buses (occasionally hitchhiking) throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia passing as a black man. Sepia Magazine financed the project in exchange for the right to print the account first as a series of articles.

Griffin kept a journal of his experiences; the 188-page diary was the genesis of the book.

What Safran is doing is so different, it’s not even worth discussing in this context. But is it comedy? And is comedy fair game for out-of-bounds, bad-taste frivolity as we saw on Hey, Hey last Wednesday?

The Boston Globe (Ty Burr) said of Cohen’s Borat, “A comic put-on of awe-inspiring crudity and death-defying satire and by a long shot the funniest film of the year. It is "Jackass" with a brain and Mark Twain with full frontal male nudity.”
While Chicago Reader’s J.R. Jones said, “As clever as he is crude, Cohen alchemizes bad-taste comedy into Strangelovean satire.”

I guess the line is thin, and maybe that’s why so many are arguing and blogging about the crossing of the line with Jackson Jive. Bad is bad, because it is, not because a sociological subset says it is. We don’t have to wait for the black population of New Orleans to vote about the doctors-come-dancers and their bad routine. It was making fun and that’s that. And that’s out of bounds. Nothing redemptive about it; no hope of people learning about another culture.

So maybe that’s part of it. When I watched “Inglorious Basterds“(why is it misspelled?) the other night I thought Tarantino was in his element again. Violent, bloody, harsh, intemperate, and fun, captivating and not-a-lick-of-truth. It all started with “Once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France…” and it was a fairy tale. I certainly ‘enjoyed’ Princess Bride as a fairy tale much better, but as a Jew, I found Tarantino a fairy tale we could have wished for.

But did the buffoon watch note anything about Germans? Or about Americans? Or about filmgoers? Or drinking Englishmen?

That’s when comedy or satire makes us think less of people of a certain colour or size or religion.

The world has changed; we have to keep changing.

So, I’m proud of Harry Connick , Jr. And I’m proud of Daryl Somers for quickly apologizing. And we can all learn, and need to learn, and learn to live together in honesty and fairness. No more jokes involving kikes or niggers, ok? Let’s even go beyond that and say good things about each other. Wow, what a wonderful world that will be!

Muslim leader wants Temple rebuilt

2009-10-08T08:41:00.001+11:00

With apologies, this is a bit dated...
Posted: August 06, 2009

Originally found at
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106055

By Joel Richardson

In a historically unprecedented development, a famous Turkish Muslim leader and a prominent group of Israeli rabbis have joined together on one of their declared goals, to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Adnan Oktar, who uses the pen name of Harun Yahya, is a controversial but highly influential Muslim intellectual and author with over 65 million of his books in circulation worldwide. Oktar recently met with three representatives from the re-established Jewish Sanhedrin, a group of 71 Orthodox rabbis and scholars from Israel, to discuss how religious Muslims, Jews and Christians can work together.

The objectives of the alliance include waging a joint intellectual and spiritual battle against the worldwide growing tide of irreligiousness, unbelief and immorality. But even more unusual is their agreement with regard to the need to rebuild the Jewish Temple, a structure Oktar refers to as the "Masjid (Mosque)" or the "Palace of Solomon." An official statement about the meeting has been published on the Sanhedrin's website. Concluding the statement is the following call:

Out of a sense of collective responsibility for world peace and for all humanity, we have found it timely to call to the world and exclaim that there is a way out for all peoples. It is etched in a call to all humanity: We are all the sons of one father, the descendants of Adam, and all humanity is but a single family. Peace among nations will be achieved through building the House of G-d, where all peoples will serve as foreseen by King Solomon in his prayers at the dedication of the First Holy Temple. Come let us love and respect one another, and love and honor and hold our heavenly Father in awe. Let us establish a house of prayer in His name in order to worship and serve Him together, for the sake of His great compassion. He surely does not want the blood of His creations spilled, but prefers love and peace among all mankind. We pray to the Almighty Creator, that you harken to our Call. Together – each according to his or her ability – we shall work towards the building of the House of Prayer for All Nations on the Temple Mount in peace and mutual understanding.

Understand the significance of the Muslim's Mahdi 'messiah' in Joel Richardson's new book, "The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real Nature of the Beast." Note: The book is also available in electronic form at reduced price through Scribd.

I was also able to meet recently with Mr. Oktar in Istanbul where he described to me his vision for the rebuilding of Solomon's Temple:

The Palace of Solomon is a historically important palace, and rebuilding it would be a very wonderful thing. It is something that any Jew, a Christian or a Muslim should welcome with enthusiasm. Every Muslim, every believer will want to return to those days, to experience those days again and, albeit partially, to bring the beauty of those days back to life.

Oktar has also stated that the Temple of Solomon "will be rebuilt and all believers will worship there in tranquility." During his meeting with the Sanhedrin rabbis, Oktar expressed his belief that the Temple could be rebuilt in one year:

It could be done in a year at most. It could be built to the same perfection and beauty. The Torah says it was built in 13 years, if I remember correctly. It could be rebuilt in a year in its perfect form.

Since the meeting took place, I have also had the privilege to discuss these things in some detail with Rabbi Abrahamson and Rabbi Hollander, two of the rabbis who met with Mr. Oktar. Regarding the rebuilding of the Temple, Rabbi Hollander explained, "The building of the Temple is one of the stages in the Messianic process." But another possibility that has been presented is that the Dome of the Rock that sits so prominently on the Temple Mount be used as "a place of prayer for all nations." This title is found in the book of the Prophet Isaiah.

"This should be fairly simple," explained Rabbi Hollander. "It is said that the structure of the Dome in Haram E-Sharrif (the Temple Mount) was originally meant by (Caliph) Omar to be a House of Prayer for Jews, and the Al-Aqsa for Muslims." However, he also explained that religious Jews would not be able to enter the Dome of the Rock unless they had first been ritually cleansed according to Jewish halakhic regulations.

While the prominence of the figures involved in this joint call to rebuild the Jewish Temple is highly noteworthy, other groups have also recently made news with unique vision for the Temple Mount. Yoav Frankel, an Orthodox Jew who has been deeply involved in interfaith dialogue with Muslims, also envisions a shared Temple Mount. This project is called "God's Holy Mountain" and is an effort of the Interfaith Encounter Association, a group dedicated to promoting peace in the Middle East. What is unique about the God's Holy Mountain project is that it envisions the day when the Jewish Temple will exist side by side with the Dome of the Rock.

"This vision of religious shrines in peaceful proximity can transform the Temple Mount from a place of contention to its original sacred role as a place of worship shared by Jews, Muslims and Christians," said Frankel in a Jerusalem Post interview. A colorful painting of this vision features prominently on Frankel's website.

Muslims, Jews and Christians share the Temple Mount in harmony.

A paper on the God's Holy Mountain website, written by an unnamed Muslim scholar, asks the following question: "Would a Jewish synagogue erected on the Temple Mount or the Noble Sanctuary make the Blessed Land less blessed? It will certainly add to its blessing because it will invite more voices that exalt and glorify the One God, to whom we all pray."

The vision of God's Holy Mountain may not be all that far off. The Obama administration has also suggested that Jerusalem could become an international city that would be shared by peoples from all three Abrahamic faiths.

Even the Knesset is getting in on the discussion. Members of the Israeli Knesset gathered together last week with several Jewish scholars to discuss the role of the Jewish Temple in Jewish life. Referring to those Muslims who do not acknowledge the Jewish history of the Temple Mount, Dr. Mordechai Keidar stated, "The struggle for Jerusalem is not territorial, it is theological. … Do we give in to the Muslim claim that Judaism is no longer relevant?"

While religious Jews have yearned for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple literally for two millennia, some skeptical left-wing commentators have mocked the notion that this will ever take place. One anti-religion blogger recently claimed that, "most Israelis have no interest in a 'Third Temple' and would resent the way such a thing would symbolize the power of an already overbearing religious establishment." He then mocked the idea as something that only exists "on the outer fringes in the Israel of the real world" while any Christian expectation of a future Temple is mere "Christian fundamentalist fantasy." Yet, according to a recent poll conducted for Ynet News and the Gesher organization, over two-thirds of the Israeli public desires to see the Jewish Temple rebuilt, including almost half of the non-religious. According to Ynet News, 64 percent of those questioned responded favorably to the idea of rebuilding the Temple, while 36 percent were not in favor of such a project:

An analysis of the answers showed that not only the ultra-Orthodox and the religious look forward to the rebuilding of the Temple (100 percent and 97 percent respectively), but also the traditional public (91 percent) and many seculars – 47 percent.

Meanwhile, the work of the Temple Institute, a group that has openly dedicated itself for years to rebuilding the Jewish Temple goes on. They have already created many of the most significant priestly utensils and pieces of furniture necessary for the Temple once it is ready. In a recent video release, entitled "Dare to Dream / Dare to Build," several on-the-street interviews reveal the passion for the Temple that are held by many average Israelis. One young man expressed his belief that the building of the Jewish Temple "will bring harmony, some tranquility in the world, some peace." Another women joyfully states, "The entire purpose of creation is that we build the Holy Temple."

The suggestion of rebuilding the Jewish Temple is deeply significant to Christians, particularly those who are students of Bible prophecy. According to the Bible, an imposter messiah known as the Antichrist will someday invade the land of Israel and "set himself up" in the "God's Temple." The Apostle Paul lays this out quite clearly:

He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's Temple, proclaiming himself to be God. – 2 Thessalonians 2:4

As a result, many Christians who understand the biblical teaching regarding the last days take note of this news with a deep measure of caution and trepidation.

Another serious cause for concern is the fact that, according to Islamic sacred tradition, the Mahdi, Islam's primary messiah figure, will one day invade the land of Israel and establish his seat of authority on the Temple Mount. According to one sacred tradition, an Islamic army will come from Iran and conquer Jerusalem:

(Armies carrying) black flags will come from Khurasan (Iran). No power will be able to stop them and they will finally reach Eela (Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem) where they will erect their flags. – Sunan Al-Tirmidhi

Commenting on this particular tradition, Egyptian authors Muhammad ibn Izzat and Muhammd 'Arif comment:

The Mahdi will be victorious and eradicate those pigs and dogs. … Jerusalem will be the location of the rightly guided caliphate and the center of Islamic rule, which will be headed by Imam al-Mahdi. … That will abolish the leadership of the Jews.

As a Christian theologian who is well-versed in these matters, I expressed the reasons for my caution to the Sanhedrin rabbis. But in the end, while all three Abrahamic religions do share many common beliefs and characteristics, many differences remain. While the prophecies of the Bible and the dark nature of some of the Islamic traditions cause me deep unease, from an Orthodox Jewish perspective, my apprehension is entirely unnecessary.

Says Rabbi Abrahamson, "There is a Jewish teaching, referring to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. that says, 'Had the nations of the world known how much they benefit and are blessed by the Holy Temple they would have surrounded it with legions of armies to protect it from any harm.'"

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106055

Cleansing the graffiti

2009-09-30T10:22:00.001+10:00

Cleansing the graffitti
Originally uploaded by bobmendo

Behind our book shop in Bondi Junction, a council worker spends literally hours cleaning up what some vandal took only minutes to accomplish. The spray can of paints make a design or a tag or something by which the graffiti artist made his mark. The cleansing took much more energy and effort.

I suppose in this season of the Jewish holidays, when repentance and forgiveness is so much the theme, this is a good photo to consider.

What does it take to ruin a situation? What time and effort does it take to speak too quickly, to touch inappropriately, to leer and lust after something which isn't yours... it might only be moments, but the effects can be far reaching. And damaging. And costly.

In October 1987, A Momentary Lapse of Reason peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200. Pink Floyd's 'reunion' album was a big success. (Seems fitting to quote this album which also contained "Dogs of War" in light of so much reference to this in Aussie news of late with Rugby League battlers the Canterbury Bulldogs).

A momentary lapse of reason. Consider these lyrics from "One slip" "One slip, and down the hole we fall
It seems to take no time at all
A momentary lapse of reason
That binds a life for life
A small regret, you won't forget"

Of course, you can argue that this is only a song, but how many times have we lived in the regret of wrong decisions. Of missed opportunities, of personal failures?

God knows, my friend. God knows your heart and your desires. And he wants you to know his desires for the planet and for your life.

Yes it might be one slip (or many as in the case of Kanye and John Della Bosca and Mike Duvall and John Edwards), and the full weight is rarely felt. We don't know how far we've fallen, as my longtime friend Bob Mumford used to say, "until you try to climb back up."

What about Razorlight's conclusion, "I get over the breaks
And I stumble and fall
And I get over the breaks
And sometimes stumble and fall
Yes I fall
Yes I fall
I stumble and fall"

Stumble, falling, how do we get back up?

That's what Kippur is all about. The holiday of Yom Kippur is about God cleansing us of sin and unrighteousness. He cares enough to deal with this as he wants to be in relationship with us. It's our sin that separates us from God. It's God's grace which brings us back into fellowship with him. Awesome!

Like in the photo, it took a lot on the part of the cleanser to accomplish this, so it was in the love gift of God, that he sent his only son, Y'shua, to die for us and bring us eternity. Thanks Lord! No wonder they sing "amazing grace."

This restoration is undeserved. This restoration is costly. This restoration is done by another and not by ourselves. Our response? Gratitude and humility. Thanks, Lord!

Rosh Hashanah.. God is good?

2009-09-19T09:16:00.002+10:00

God is good and ready to forgive
Rosh Hashanah message 5770
Given in Bondi Junction
18 September 2009

Tonight we greet a new year. It’s not like crowding into the Opera House steps to watch millions of dollars of fireworks go off on 31 December. The revelry of Trafalgar Square or Times Square is not apparent here. We might wear different apparel than usual, but not the wild and crazy clothing of New Year’s Eve. No, tonight is a night of awe and respect; it’s a night of self-introspection and repair. And, oh, please hear me, it IS a night of celebration. We are rejoicing in the newness that should characterize a new year. And it’s all based on the text of tonight, the Psalm we read early on, Psalm 86. And the key passage is “God is good, and ready to forgive.”

Last weekend I was in Brisbane, and enjoyed the first Brisbane Festival. The highlight was a large fireworks show called “RiverFire.” It was spectacular. The air force supplied a fly-over. I supplied a thousand Gospel tracts to the crowd which gathered almost as early as our crowds in Sydney fireworks displays do. And it was celebratory.
So what will you do to celebrate tonight’s New Year here in Sydney? May I suggest it’s not about resolutions of your own reformation and repair. May I suggest it’s not about revelry and fireworks. Although we hope to have enough to share, it’s not about apples and honey and honeycake after the meeting. It’s about the goodness of God and his readiness to forgive.

Of course, the words ‘ready to’ are not in the Hebrew text. It’s more skeletal than that in the Hebrew.
Other versions simply say, “You are good and forgiving.” Simple. Clear. Honest. But, honestly, is that something to celebrate? Open the Esky for that one?

Maybe we should ask John Della Bosca, who was caught out last month in a sordid affair of lust and lying.
Or we should ask that American congressman from California, who was similarly caught out, But listen to his acknowledgement of wrongdoing. “My offence was engaging in inappropriate storytelling and I regret my language and choice of words.” Seems Mike Duvall a 54-year-old congressman boasted to a fellow congressman, with his microphone still on, during congressional hearings, about an affair with a 36-year-old female lobbyist. He boasted about their sexual activities. But what did he confess? Sin? Infidelity to his wife? Failure to the family? Nope, only that he was boastful and the bragging was wrong. Oy.

I’m not stuck on sexual impropriety as if that were the worst sin.
Should we ask the French Interior Minister? Brice Hortefeux sparked accusations of racism with comments last week about Arabs. He said, “it’s ok when there’s one (Arab). It’s when there are a lot of them that there are problems.” All this caught on videotape during a filming at a Le Monde shooting.
Listen, I’m pretty sure that there are plenty of other sins a man commits. How about all those in the machzor, the traditional Jewish prayer book on this day, for which we repent? Shall I name some? OK, here’s a top 10 list (See the end of sermon, if you are reading online for the complete list/prayer):
1) Passing judgment
2) Scheming against a fellowman
3) Begrudging eye
4) Frivolity
5) Obduracy
6) Running to do evil
7) Tale-bearing
8) Swearing in vain
9) Causeless hatred
10) Embezzlement.

It is interesting to note that these confessions do not specifically address the kinds of ritual sins that some people think are the be-all-and-end-all of Judaism. There is no "for the sin we have sinned before you by eating pork, and for the sin we have sinned against you by driving on Shabbat" (though obviously these are implicitly included in the catch-all). The vast majority of the sins enumerated involve mistreatment of other people, most of them by speech (offensive speech, scoffing, slander, talebearing, and swearing falsely, to name a few).

You might be thinking, “Now wait a minute, I didn’t come hear to have you tell me about sins. I came to hear about New Year and trumpets and to go into 5770 in a new way. I want change, but not religious change.”

Fair enough, and worthy of consideration. But maybe Mr Della Bosca or the French minister or Kanye West are thinking other things just about now.
Embarrassment and shame. All part of the guilt of our sin. And all good. “What,“ you say? Yes, I say, guilt is good. Not only because I’m Jewish and we as Jews dwell often in our sins and the guilt of it. No, it’s because sin should bring guilt, and guilt should bring shame and then sin, guilt and shame should lead to repentance. If you know how bad you are, you will cry out to the God who ever lives to help us and bring us to a good place.

Let’s go back to the Psalm of the night, and see this again.
Psalm 86 reads like promises offered to the most desperate person.

Kathleen Parker, an American journalist I read often, said this in the shadow of the “You lie” comment by Joe Wilson, an unknown American congressman (from her home state of South Carolina), “Across the spectrum of society, people are behaving badly…from the rude tantrum of Kanye West at the Video Music Awards to the profane threats of tennis star Serena Williams when she disagreed with a line call.”
Parker’s conclusions about the unjustified scream in President Obama’s speech end with, “there are myriad ways for a congressman to voice objection to the president's ideas or his colleagues' proposals. But dueling has been out of style for quite some time, even in South Carolina. If our will to self-govern is to prevail, then incivility will have to become equally unfashionable.”

Parker calls for people to behave well, to be civil. And that’s a fair call. But is human reform enough to make a real difference?

Let me put this to you in a personal category. Let’s say you were a habitual liar. Each week you tell hundreds of lies. Some cultural psychologists aver that the averages are as follows:
“Most people lie to others once or twice a day and deceive about 30 people per week.
The average is 7 times per hour if you count all the times people lie to themselves.
We lie in 30 to 38% of all our interactions.
Uni students lie in 50% of conversations with their mothers.
- 80% of us lie on our resumes.
- 70% of all doctors lie to insurance companies.
- 100% of dating couples surveyed lied to each other in about a third of their conversations.
- 20% - 30% of middle managers surveyed had written fraudulent internal reports.
- 95% of participating uni students surveyed were willing to tell at least one lie to a potential employer to win a job, and 41% had already done so.
We are lied to about 200 times each day.” (http://www.geocities.com/changes1611/sins22lies2.html)

Wow, that’s a lot of lying going on.

So let’s say you want to try to get that better this year. How would you go about that? Would you make lists of the lies you told? Would you try to go back and make things right with those to whom you lied, even last week? Would you say you will try harder this year and reform your behaviour? All well and good. And maybe that’s part of the procedure in repair, but King David is helping us understand a deeper and more powerful method of restoration. It’s not about reformation; it’s about repentance.
The first and required way to fix all bad actions, is to cry to God for mercy.
Listen to verse one. Incline Thine ear, O LORD, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy.

Help-- the shortest prayer ever uttered, and often the most real. O. Hallesby in his classic book, Prayer, takes the first chapter to its full meaning with the word helplessness. We can only really pray when we know how desperate we are to find the God behind or above the prayer. We cannot simply approach him; we cannot earn our way to him. We have no capacity to gain his awareness or qualities enough to warrant his observation. Everything about our relationship with the Almighty is of grace, and in that grace we stand.

Then verses 2 and 3: O Thou my God, save Thy servant who trusts in Thee.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, For to Thee I cry all day long.
Whatever else is going on in King David’s life in this moment, he knows that God alone is the one who can fix it all up.

Again verse 4: Make glad the soul of Thy servant, For to Thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
Do you hear the ‘because’ or ‘for’ in each verse? Why should God listen? Because I am needy. Why should God be gracious to me? Because I cry all day long. What is it about making the soul of the king glad? Because David lifts his soul to the Lord.
I like thinking about the reason behind things. Why do we do what we do on Rosh Hashanah with trumpets and apples? Why do I wear certain clothing and travel certain places? What motivates a Family First senator from Victoria to say and do what he does? Motivations are hard to read, almost impossible, and thus we are left with only actions to evaluate.

But inside us, and in our relationship with the Lord, He knows our deepest thoughts and our considerations. He knows our motivations and as such, we can say, “In the day of my trouble I shall call upon Thee, For Thou wilt answer me.”

It all sums up in verses 12 and 13 with
I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Thy name forever. For Thy lovingkindness toward me is great, And Thou hast delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Or the classic codified confession from Moses onward,
Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

Do you know this God about whom David was so convinced? Do you know the mercy, the unfailing love and grace of the God of the Universes who can demand so much, who can cause us to see our darknesses and our dark side, and yet offer to us his unfailing love and comfort?

But you might say, "I don’t believe in God," or "I don’t need a God who demands so much." You might be one who prefers a nice God, a polite God, one who forgives …well, actually one who doesn’t expect much from us, and thus doesn’t need to forgive. But then you will miss it, my friend. Only those who know how painfully far we are from the Holy Lord of all the world (Adon Olam) can enter into the life and pleasure of God. It’s another one of those biblical oddities, that only the weak are strengthened; only the poor are made rich.

You might say, “I don’t believe God is good.” You may have experienced a lot of pain and suffering. You may have endured a lifeless relationship, and can only see God in the players who represented him. We all know about bad priests in Catholic churches and schools who ruined the lives of many under them. Many of our people, experienced in the evils of man’s inhumanity to man, endured the Holocaust in Europe and the rejection of others and think, justifiably, that God is either incompetent to save or evil in his own nature.

When we blame God for the things others do in his name we again miss it. When we cast aspersions on the God who made the world and fail to see our own failings, we amplify our need for him. God is so good, and we who ruin his name, who mock his name, who unjustly shame or pain others, we do him a disservice. God is not mocked. It is we who fail. It is we who need him.

Our Jewish people are the ones who should know this the most. Each year, on Rosh Hashanah, we begin again. We look inside again and cry ‘oy’ at the evils we have done. We ask for forgiveness.

God is good, and ready to forgive.
But we fail to acknowledge him. We fail to cry out of our need for him.
Into that scene came Y’shua. He’s the messiah our forefathers awaited. He’s the one who taught us to admit our sins. He’s the one who takes our sins on himself and bears them himself. He had done no violence, according to the prophet and according to the record of the Bible, there was no deceit in his mouth. And it hurt God in his heart to let Y’shua suffer.

But Y’shua, or as others call him Jesus, chose to bear our suffering. He chose to live our lives and take our pain. He chose to be wounded for us, and bring us to the reality of the forgiving God.

When met with a lame man, lying on his pallet, needing help, Y’shua offered depth of help the man found unexpecting. Each of the synoptics record it, “Matt. 9.5 “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, and walk’?
Mark 2.9 “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your pallet and walk’?
Luke 5.23 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?”

To be healed, to be free, to truly live a life of newness in 5770 or any year, Y’shua extended the forgiveness of sins to the man lying on his pallet. That’s what we need. That’s the only way to have a new year. Not in revelry or reformation. But in repentance and the grace that Y’shua brings.

If you’ve never accepted Y’shua as your messiah, as your Saviour, why not do it now? What a great day to be born again, on New Years, and truly start over?

-------------------------------------------------------
Text of Al Khet (Confession of sins on Yom Kippur)
For the sin which we have committed before You under duress or willingly.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by hard-heartedness.
For the sin which we have committed before You inadvertently.
And for the sin which we have committed before You with an utterance of the lips.
For the sin which we have committed before You with immorality.
And for the sin which we have committed before You openly or secretly.
For the sin which we have committed before You with knowledge and with deceit.
And for the sin which we have committed before You through speech.
For the sin which we have committed before You by deceiving a fellowman.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by improper thoughts.
For the sin which we have committed before You by a gathering of lewdness.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by verbal [insincere] confession.
For the sin which we have committed before You by disrespect for parents and teachers.
And for the sin which we have committed before You intentionally or unintentionally.
For the sin which we have committed before You by using coercion.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by desecrating the Divine Name.
For the sin which we have committed before You by impurity of speech.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by foolish talk.
For the sin which we have committed before You with the evil inclination.
And for the sin which we have committed before You knowingly or unknowingly.
For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.
For the sin which we have committed before You by false denial and lying.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by a bribe-taking or a bribe-giving hand.
For the sin which we have committed before You by scoffing.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by evil talk [about another].
For the sin which we have committed before You in business dealings.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by eating and drinking.
For the sin which we have committed before You by [taking or giving] interest and by usury.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by a haughty demeanor.
For the sin which we have committed before You by the prattle of our lips.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by a glance of the eye.
For the sin which we have committed before You with proud looks.
And for the sin which we have committed before You with impudence.
For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.
For the sin which we have committed before You by casting off the yoke [of Heaven].
And for the sin which we have committed before You in passing judgment.
For the sin which we have committed before You by scheming against a fellowman.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by a begrudging eye.
For the sin which we have committed before You by frivolity.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by obduracy.
For the sin which we have committed before You by running to do evil.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by tale-bearing.
For the sin which we have committed before You by swearing in vain.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by causeless hatred.
For the sin which we have committed before You by embezzlement.
And for the sin which we have committed before You by a confused heart.
For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.
And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a burnt-offering.
And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a sin-offering.
And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a varying offering [according to one's means
And for the sins for which we are obligated to bring a guilt-offering for a certain or doubtful trespass.
And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of lashing for rebelliousness.
And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of forty lashes.
And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of death by the hand of Heaven.
And for the sins for which we incur the penalty of excision and childlessness.

Questionable release

2009-08-25T07:24:00.001+10:00

(Beijing, Scotland, CIA tapes)

China has released two prominent legal activists after representations from the US. The activists are seen as important to the development of rule of law and public policy discussion of problems in Tibet and Xinjiang.

The unexpected release of Ilham Tohti, a Uighur economist and commentator, Xu Zhiyong, a public interest lawyer, and his assistant Zhuang Lu, was met with relief by human rights activists after they had been swept up in a wide political security crackdown.

Over in Scotland, the news about the release of Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, met questioning by foreign press. As a result, Scotland's Parliament has been recalled to discuss the situation. The Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, is expected to defend the decision to free the only man convicted of the 1988 atrocity, which killed 270 people.

Last week he granted compassionate release to the terminally ill Libyan who had served eight years of a life sentence.

Britain is facing growing criticism from many countries, including the US, with its highest military officer saying he was appalled by the decision. Admiral Mike Mullen told CNN that the release of Megrahi was ''obviously a political decision. I was appalled by the decision''.

Sen Joe Lieberman pointed to shocking suggestions by the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, his son, Seif, and the head of the Libyan-British Business Council that the decision was influenced by Britain's interest in exploring for oil in Libya. The director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, has accused Mr MacAskill of making a mockery of the rule of law and giving comfort to terrorists.

But the US has its own problems with questionable releases. CIA interrogators threatened an al Qaeda prisoner with a gun and an electric drill to try to scare him into giving up information, according to a long-concealed inspector-general's report made public on Monday.

The gun and drill were used in two separate interrogation sessions against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, one of the sources said. Al-Nashiri is accused of plotting the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which left 17 U.S. sailors dead. A federal judge in New York ordered a redacted version of the report released Monday as part of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. Findings included threatening the murder of a child and the rape of a mother to suspects if they did not cooperate.

Wow, this is revelatory. And shocking. Questionable releases, whether Chinese activists or informing and guilt-bringing reporting or bombers who murdered hundreds of Scottish (and others) citizens…they bring a sense of right and wrong, don’t they?

We think out loud about our own desires and what is right in any situation. And often, if we are honest, we don’t know what we would do if we had the power to adjust things.

Imagine, or remember, some of the wrongs you’ve committed. Imagine someone coming to you and asking if you would like to be freed from the consequences of the wrongs. And then imagine that this person actually released you from the guilt, from the pains, from the suffering of the wrongs you had done.

What would you feel? Tremendous freedom; great satisfaction; awesome pleasure – you would feel many of these, wouldn’t you? You’d jump for joy. You’d at least smile as you walked out of the courtroom or the field or the basement of the wrongs in which you’d been living.

But how would others feel? How would those feel whom you had wronged? How would those affected by your behavior feel in light of the release you had just experienced?

The Jewish new year is fast approaching. In Sydney we will have a service on Friday night, 18 September, to remember and reflect. And to announce to everyone who attends, that God has done the most believable thing—He has paid your penalty and freed you from your sin. He has given you release from the guilt of your sin and made you alive with Him. And all because of Y’shua, the Just One who knows all you have ever done, and yet poured out His blood on the earth to save you from those sins. Awesome pleasure, and yet, undeserving... maybe a bit of guilt about receiving such an offer. How do you feel about this?

Some will say this release is questionable. Some will mock what God has done. But He did it nonetheless. The resultant reality is our freedom. Which would you rather have: the question or the answer?

I’ll choose the answer: freedom in believing in Y’shua. This works for now, for 18 September, for 2009, and into forever.

Was there a flourishing Palestinian society before 1948

2009-07-25T08:05:00.001+10:00

NOT by Bob Mendelsohn, but written by Charles Oren
Tuesday July 21, 2009

Published here
http://www.icjs-online.org/index.php?article=2007

Too many writers on ME conflict base their ideas on the premise that there was a flourishing Arab society in Palestine that was destroyed by the creation of Israel.

However, there were 200,000 Arabs here in 1830, and conditions were very bad, just as in every other part of the Ottoman Empire.

Conditions improved after 1832 when Mohamed Ali permitted infidels to buy land since he wanted European support for his campaign against Turkey. Arabs migrated to Palestine attracted by the prosperity created by Christians building churches, consuls providing law & order and then Jews draining the swamps. There were 600,000 Arabs here when the Mandate started. This grew to 1,200,000 by 1948 due to British policy to encourage Arab immigration so as to thwart Jewish efforts to create a state. Most of these 1.2 m Arabs were new immigrants, 'colonialists' just as the Jews ...... except that we returned to the only land we had ever claimed as ours in 3,000 years. Even the Koran recognises this fact.

There were few Jews here in the 19th and 20th century. However, there were 15 m Jews in the world who had dreamt of Zion for 2,000 years. However, not a single Arab anywhere considered Palestine as his or Holy !

The 1947 partition plan was based on demography. A minority of these 1.2 m Arabs lived in the area allocated to Israel, probably less than 400,000. Of these, 150,000 remained in their homes and became Israeli citizens. Hence, only 250,000 Arabs fled rather than remain under Israeli rule. The others lived in areas allocated to them, and so cannot claim refugee status since they did not flee foreign rule.

And yet, everyone repeats the claim that there were 750,000 Arab refugees in 1948 ....... but ignore the 1 m Jews expelled from Arab states.

No one mentions the populations of the countries involved in the conflict. It can be presumed that today's readers do not know that there were only 600,000 Jews here in 1948 and they had no army or weapons since the Brits had confiscated all Jewish arms.

My own grandchildren cannot grasp this!

There were about 100 m Arabs in the countries around Israel who attacked in 1948. With those odds, it should have taken them only a few weeks to drive all the Jews into the sea.

And everyone accepts that they had a right to attack Israel !

This was a war of aggression that has not yet ended. Israel has a right to defend itself and to expect compensation, in cash and/or territory.

The odds were worse in 1967!

Russia had flooded Egypt and Syria with weapons after the 1956 fiasco while there was still a very effective arms embargo on Israeli.

Israel had grown from 600,000 in 1948 to 3 m in 1967. Homes, jobs etc had to be created for all these people. Just imagine the chaos in any other country if the population suddenly tripled ! No country today is able to create even a few new jobs for their unemployed.

It is an insult to human intelligence to claim that 6 m Jews are a threat to 1,500 m Muslims who are supported by the rest of the world that depends on their oil.

And finally, UN resolutions are treated as if they are based on justice without considering the number of Muslim and Jewish states involved.

Does the universe have a beginning?

2009-07-23T11:27:00.002+10:00

From the internet...

Did the Universe Have a Beginning?

This article is online at
http://www.y-origins.com/index.php?p=beginning1

For some Q and A, read
http://www.y-origins.com/index.php?p=id_qa

Scientific discoveries revive the ancient belief in a beginning to the universe. If we could rewind the history of the universe, what would we discover about its origin and development? Did it really have a beginning, or was it always there?

The influential ancient philosopher Aristotle stated, “It is impossible that movement should ever come into being or cease to be, for it must always have existed. Nor can time come into being or cease to be.”

Meanwhile, the biblical book of Genesis famously starts off, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Which is it? Is the universe eternal—has it always been here? Or did it have a start at some point in time—did it have a birthday, so to speak? These are the two schools of thought that have enrolled followers since early times. (Actually, there was also a third school that postulated that the universe existed on the back of a giant sea turtle, but they’re mostly gone now.)

The seesaw of opinion has tipped one way or the other over time. But lately the weight of evidence has all been coming down on the side of the birthday universe.

In the old days when the Christian church dominated Western society, the creation of the universe was taken for granted. But slowly the scientific viewpoint pushed aside creation as well as the Creator. Now many scientists are thinking that the idea of a creation may not have been so far off from the truth as they thought. It’s looking like the universe had a beginning after all.

Remarkably, one of the first scientists to swing the pendulum of opinion back to the birthday-universe position was so entrenched in eternal-universe thinking that at first he refused to believe his own conclusions.

A GREAT BRAIN'S BIGGEST BLUNDER

When Albert Einstein developed his revolutionary theory of general relativity in 1916, his mathematical calculations pointed to an extraordinary conclusion—the universe was expanding. And since if you rewind the tape on any expansion, you get back to a point where it started, that meant the universe must have had a beginning too.1

Einstein, however, was like most scientists of his day in that he believed in an eternal universe. Unwilling to accept a beginning to the universe, Einstein fudged the numbers in order to nullify the conclusion that the universe was expanding.

University of California astrophysicist George Smoot explains that Einstein’s main problem with an expanding universe was its implication of a beginning. A beginning pointed to a beginner beyond scientific investigation.2 However, once experimental data proved that the universe really was expanding, Einstein admitted his error, calling it “the biggest blunder of my life.”3

There’s a point worth considering here: if it could happen to Einstein, it could happen to anyone. Rarely is anyone completely objective when it comes to the issue of a Creator. While it is true that religious belief and philosophy became an obstacle for scientific inquiry in the days of Galileo, trends have changed. In the modern era it has at times been a prejudice against the possibility of a cosmic designer that has kept many scientists from honest and open inquiry.

Thankfully, the truth generally comes out in the end and scientists begin to see the light. For Einstein and others, it was something called red shift that started the parade of evidence for a universe with a beginning.

RED SHIFTING THE BIG BANG THEORY INTO HIGH GEAR

In the late 1920s, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble noticed something unusual as he gazed into the heavens. It wasn’t a new planet or little green men waving at him from Mars; it was something both more tedious and at the same time more thrilling.

Hubble had been spending countless nights at the Mount Wilson Observatory, studying the stars and galaxies and especially the spectrum of color in the light they sent our way. He discovered that the light from most other galaxies was shifted to the red end of the spectrum, which indicated they were moving away from us.

Furthermore, the farther a galaxy was away from us, the more red shifted its light was and, thus, the faster it was moving away from us. The only explanation for all of this was that space itself was expanding, causing all galaxies to move away from each other. In an expanding universe, from any point in space (including our own), it would appear that most stars and galaxies were racing away. And the farther away they were, the faster they would be racing.

There it was in the red shift: proof that Einstein had been right in the first place (before he fudged his formula) and that the universe really was expanding. Proof, in other words, that the universe was not eternal but had a beginning.4

And yet not everyone accepted the proof at first, including a scientist named Sir Fred Hoyle (former Plumian professor of astronomy at Cambridge University and founder of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge). Ironically, it was Hoyle who originally described the event as a “big bang,” meaning to mock the idea. The name stuck. (According to physics professor Brian Greene, the term “big bang” is actually misleading since there was nothing to explode and no space in which an explosion could take place.)5 But unlike Hoyle, many other scientists began coming over to the side of the newly named theory.

The world’s leading astrophysicist, Stephen Hawking, who has held the esteemed position of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, calls Hubble’s discovery of an expanding universe “one of the great intellectual revolutions of the twentieth century.”6 The discovery that the universe had a beginning has led to a new science called cosmology, which attempts to understand what happened at the origin of the universe, how it works, and what will happen in its future.

The new science led cosmologists to take another look at a seemingly mundane insight from the 19th century, the second law of thermodynamics.

THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

Einstein’s theorems based on his theory of relativity predict that the universe could not have begun without an outside force or Beginner.14 Since Einstein’s theory of relativity ranks as the most exhaustively tested and best proven principle in physics, his conclusion is deemed correct.15

Tests from an array of radio telescopes at the South Pole have confirmed the big bang to a still higher degree of accuracy than ever before.16 Background radiation measurements exceed 99.9% of what had been predicted.17 There are now more than 30 independent confirmations that the universe had a one-time origin.18

A SECOND LAW OF FIRST IMPORTANCE

In addition to Hubble’s discovery, the second law of thermodynamics also predicts a beginning to the universe. You say you don’t know the second law of thermodynamics? Think again.

Let’s say you come into a room containing me and a bunch of your other pals, and you find a steaming cup of Starbucks coffee on the table. Being the thoughtful individual that you are, you ask, “Does this belong to anyone?”

To which I reply, “It’s been there for the last month.”

Well, you’d know immediately I was wrong or lying (probably lying). Why? Because the coffee wouldn’t still be hot if it had been there for a month; it would be room temperature.

That’s the second law of thermodynamics in action. This law states that everything continually moves from a state of order to disorder and that heat and energy dissipate over time. This is a law that has been verified by proof after scientific proof and has never been shown to be wrong.

Now let’s apply this law to the universe, just as cosmologists have. If the universe were eternal, it would have gone cold and lifeless long ago. The stars would have burned out. Planets would have broken up into clouds of dust. And even the black holes would have ceased vacuuming the universe of unsightly stars and planets.

When you see flaming suns and scorching meteors, in other words, you’re looking at a steaming cup of coffee that over infinite time would have long since gone room temperature. Since the universe is still full of pockets of heat and energy, it cannot be eternal. Who would have thought heat would be such a helpful clue? And that is just the half of it.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TV INTERFERENCE

There is still another way that the measurement of heat help to prove that the universe is expanding. In the spring of 1964, two researchers at Bell Labs observed a persistent hiss while testing their microwave radiation detector. Regardless of which direction they pointed the antenna, the static was the same. (This is the same static as TV interference. The same static that was supposed to be gone when I paid $150 to have my satellite dish installed.) Those men, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, had discovered what scientists say is the echo from the birth of the universe.7

But how could scientists know for sure that the hiss they were hearing was actually an echo from the beginning of the universe? Mathematicians calculated that heat generated at the moment the universe began would have been enormous beyond comprehension. This heat would have gradually dissipated over the life of the cosmos, leaving only a tiny residual of about 3 degrees Kelvin (-270 degrees C).

Additionally, in order for galaxies to have formed by the explosion needed to have slight variations in the form of waves or ripples.

According to George Smoot, these ripples would result in very slight fluctuations in the predicted temperature and would reveal an identifiable pattern.8 Thus, if the temperatures matched up, the birth of the universe would be scientifically verified. Merely discovering the temperature to be 3 degrees Kelvin would not prove that the universe actually had a beginning, the fluctuations also needed to match.9

But how could we verify fluctuations so subtle?

THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF ALL TIME?

In 1992, a team of astrophysicists led by Smoot launched the COBE satellite in order to verify the temperatures in space. The satellite would be able to take precise measurements and determine whether fluctuations in temperature existed.

The results stunned the scientific world. Not only was the three-degree temperature confirmed, but more importantly, the profiles of the fluctuations were discovered to be a match with what had been expected.10 Hawking called the discovery “the scientific discovery of the century, if not all time.” Smoot himself excitedly stated to newspaper reporters, “What we have found is evidence for the birth of the universe.”11 He also said, “If you’re religious, it’s like looking at God.”12

Astounded by the news, Ted Koppel began his ABC Nightline television program with an astronomer quoting the first two verses of the Bible. The other special guest, a physicist, immediately added his quote of the third Bible verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:1, 3).13

Evidence like that provided by the COBE satellite raises some intriguing questions, to say the least.

New telescopes such as the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003, have opened up even bigger windows to our universe. They have prompted astronomer Giovanni Fazio, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to remark, “We are now able for the first time to lift the cosmic veil that has blocked our view.”19

As a result of the accumulating evidence, the scientific community has long since begun asking questions about origins, such as the following:

• What was there before the big bang?

• Why did the big bang result in a universe enabling life to exist?

• How could everything originate from nothing?

Smoot ponders what was there before the beginning: “Go back further still, beyond the moment of creation—what then? What was there before the big bang? What was there before time began?”20 The same astrophysicist notes that “until the late 1910’s … those who didn’t take Genesis literally had no reason to believe there had been a beginning.”21 The Genesis account of creation and the big bang theory both speak of everything coming from nothing. Suddenly the Bible and science agree (a discovery somewhat embarrassing to materialists). Smoot admits, “There is no doubt that a parallel exists between the big bang as an event and the Christian notion of creation from nothing.”22

The evidence had begun to add up, and some scientists weren’t liking the sum.

A ONE TIME BEGINNING

Hoyle and other scientists fervently pursued alternative explanations to a one-time origin of the universe. Eventually, however, the evidence showed clearly that the universe had a beginning, and the big bang theory was proclaimed victorious. Ironically, it was evidence from Hoyle’s own research that helped confirm that the universe had a one-time beginning.
TRYING TO AVOID THE BAD DREAM

A beginning to the universe was like a bad dream come true for materialists who wanted to believe everything had always existed. It brought scientists face to face with the loical conclusions that primary cause must exist. That argument is a simple logical syllogism:

1. Everything that has a beginning had a cause.

2. The universe had a beginning.

3. Therefore, the universe had a cause.

But admitting a cause leads to the next logical question: who or what is the cause?

Think about it for a minute. Since time, space, matter, and motion are all a part of the created universe, then before the beginning it was timeless, spaceless, and motionless.

What can happen spontaneously from this state of affairs? There’s nothing moving, there’s nothing colliding, there’s … well, nothing. Not even the potential for anything to happen.

The fact everything came from nothing has forced scientists to acknowledge that something outside of space and time, something very powerful and with apparent volition, must have acted to bring about the beginning. That is, there must have been an intelligent Designer of the universe. Some might go ahead and use the name God for this Creator.

Well, in certain academic circles, this line of reasoning simply won’t do. Thus it is that many materialists have looked for a way to prove that the universe didn’t have a beginning. Smoot remarks, “Cosmologists have long struggled to avoid this bad dream by seeking explanations of the universe that avoid the necessity of a beginning.”23

Sir Fred Hoyle (he who mockingly coined the term “big bang”) was one scientist who strongly opposed the concept of a beginning for the universe. In 1948 Hermann Bondi and Thomas Gold joined Hoyle in postulating that matter was in a continual state of creation. They called their idea the steady state theory, which was an attempt to show that the universe is eternal after all, even though the evidence had long been trending against such a view. However, the COBE discovery of background radiation was the fatal blow to the steady state theory. 24

Next came the oscillating-universe theory. According to this concept, the universe explodes, contracts, and explodes again, eternally yo-yoing. This would be another way to permit a belief in the eternal existence of the universe. But the physics for this theory didn’t work.

More recently, some scientists, including Hawking, have begun considering the so-called multiverse theory. This theory accepts that our universe is finite, but it suggests that ours is just one of many universes. The whole multi-universe may be eternal, according to this theory, even though our particular universe is not. This theory is covered in more depth in another article in this magazine, but the key point to understand about it right now is that it has no evidence whatsoever to support it.

These theories fit neatly with the philosophy of materialism, whereas a beginning of the universe would raise the obvious question, who was there to start it? Professor Dennis Sciama, Hawking’s supervisor while he was at Cambridge, admits his reasons for supporting the steady state theory: “I was a supporter of the steady state theory, not in the sense that I believed that it had to be true, but in that I found it so attractive I wanted it to be true.”25

An origin of the universe meant materialists were suddenly faced with the questions that threatened their worldview.

Today most cosmologists and physicists accept the big bang theory as the scientific explanation of how our universe began. In fact, scientists believe they can trace the history of the universe all the way back to 10-43 of a second. Prior to that point in the history of our universe, all of our current theories break down and science can see no further back. The very beginning of the universe remains a mystery.

Imagine rewinding the universe back to its beginning, a time when there were no stars. No light, matter, or energy. Not even space or time. Suddenly an enormous explosion erupted from this nothingness at a temperature exceeding a million trillion trillion degrees.26 Time begins along with matter, energy, and space.

When a bomb ejects shrapnel into the air, both the bomb material and the space it blows into have already been there. However, in the beginning of the universe, neither space nor matter existed until the explosion. The space surface of the universe and the newly created matter came into existence.

According to the big bang theory, this explosion launched the entire universe, from the most distant galaxy, to the most colorful nebula, to quasars flashing like beacons, to our own comforting sun and nearby planets, to you and me with our questions about where we came from and what it all means. Since man alone thinks about the meaning and purpose of life, the beginning—and the cause of that beginning—must be fascinating to each one of us.

The verdict is in on the question of whether the universe is eternal or had a beginning. The idea that everything in the cosmos originated out of nothing seems mythical, yet it is now mainstream science.

ENDNOTES

1. Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe (New York: Vintage, 2000), 81-82.

2. George Smoot and Keay Davidson, Wrinkles in Time (New York: Avon, 1993), 36.

3. Greene, 81-82.

4. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1990), 38-51.

5. Greene, 83.

6. Hawking, 39.

7. Smoot, 80-83.

8. Ibid., 187.

9. Ibid., 240.

10. Ibid., 241.

11. Associated Press, “U.S. Scientists Find a ‘Holy Grail’: Ripples at the Edge of the Universe,” International
Herald Tribune (London), April 24, 1992, 1.

12. Thomas H. Maugh II, “Relics of ‘Big Bang’ Seen for First Time,” Los Angeles Times, April 1992, A1, A30.

13. Nightline with Ted Koppel, ABC, April 25, 1992.

14. Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos, 3rd ed. (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2001), 224.

15. Roger Penrose, Shadows of the Mind (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 230.

16. E. M. Leitch et al., “Measurement of Polarization with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer,” Nature 420 (2002): 772-87; J. M. Kovac et al., “Detection of Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background Using DASI,” Nature 420 (2002): 772-87; Matias Zalarriaga, “Background Comes to the Fore,” Nature 420 (2002): 747-48.

17. Gregg Easterbrook, “Before the Big Bang,” U.S. News & World Report special edition, 2003, 16.

18. Hugh Ross, “Big Bang Passes Test,” Connections, Qtr 2, 2003.

19. Paul Recer, “Newest Space Telescope: The Spitzer,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, December 19, 2003, A17.

20. Smoot, 291.

21. Ibid., 30.

22. Ibid., 17.

23. Ibid., 291

24. Ibid. 86.

25. Stephen Hawking, ed., Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time: A Reader’s Companion (New York: Bantam, 1992), 63.

26. Bradford A. Smith, “New Eyes on the Universe,” National Geographic, January 1994, 33.

Jewish Christians in the Church?

2009-07-13T20:57:00.003+10:00

Beth Hatefutsoth is the diaspora museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The picture's caption reads:

Jews and Jewish-Christians prepare to worship at the Great Synagogue of Antioch, Syria, 4th century. Chrysostom, one of the fathers of the Church, reproves the Christians and demands that they separate from the Jews.

---Diorama, Beth Hatefutsoth, Permanent Exhibition

When I saw this diorama in Israel in 1983, I was amazed. Here was evidence in the 4th century of the reality that so many knock back...Jews for Jesus. Messianic Jews existed then and now, and caused a stir in each.

Rodney Stark makes a big deal, as do many about St John of Antioch, later titled Chrysostom (Golden tongue). According to Wikipedia, During his first two years as a presbyter in Antioch (386-387), Chrysostom denounced Jews and Judaizing Christians in a series of eight sermons delivered to Christians in his congregation who were taking part in Jewish festivals and other Jewish observances.[See Wilken, p.xv, and also "John Chrysostom" in Encyclopedia Judaica] It is disputed whether the main target were specifically Judaizers or Jews in general. His homilies were expressed in the conventional manner, utilizing the uncompromising rhetorical form known as the psogos (Greek: blame).

One of the purposes of these homilies was to prevent Christians from participating in Jewish customs, and thus prevent the perceived erosion of Chrysostom's flock. In his sermons, Chrysostom criticized those "Judaizing Christians", who were participating in Jewish festivals and taking part in other Jewish observances, such as the shabbat, submitted to circumcision and made pilgrimage to Jewish holy places.

Chrysostom claimed that on the shabbats and Jewish festivals synagogues were full of Christians, especially women, who loved the solemnity of the Jewish liturgy, enjoyed listening to the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, and applauded famous preachers in accordance with the contemporary custom.[37] A more recent apologetic theory is that he instead tried to persuade Jewish Christians, who for centuries had kept connections with Jews and Judaism, to choose between Judaism and Christianity. ( Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity. How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries, (Princeton University Press:1997)p.66-67.)

I'm not writing about church antisemitism against Jewish people today. That is abundant and shamefully abundantly clear throughout the centuries. What I'm referencing is church antisemitism against Jewish believers in Jesus today. And in 350 AD and that's not good by any means.

Chrysostom wanted Jewish believers to separate from the historic Jewish community and there are too many Christian pastors who want us to do the same. Quit eating kosher; quit keeping Shabbat; come over to our side. The title of the diorama was "Bear the Cross"... leave Judaism. Be one of us.

Friends, even the word 'Judaize' is a slur word. Judaize would mean to do Jewish things, or to invite others to do the same. It might even mean to "become Jewish." What exactly is wrong with that? The theme in the book of Galatians warrants another word--"legalize", or to 'seek favour with God by means of works' rather than by faith. But to name this action "judaizing" is a demeaning of the people to whom God gave the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 9.4-5)

The Church has been guilty in so many places of demeaning Jewish people, here in Australia, and around the world. God help the church to stop the wrong of St John of Antioch, to stop the wrong of the Spanish Inquisition (which targeted Jewish Christians, along with Islam converts as well), to stop the wrong of these days. Let Jewish believers practice their faith as they desire. Don't make me eat ham; don't discourage my celebrating Rosh Hashanah. Help us focus our practices and life and culture on Messiah Y'shua, the Saviour of the world and King of Kings.

How long does anyone really have?

2009-07-12T17:28:00.002+10:00

Bob Rebekkah Teri
Originally uploaded by bobmendo

From the Louis Memorial Chapel website:

November 22nd, 1920 - July 9th, 2009

Obituary:
Rebecca A. Gitterman, 88, of Kansas City, MO, passed away Thursday, July 9, 2009 at Menorah Medical Center. Graveside services will be 1:30pm Sunday, July 12, at Sheffield Cemetery. Kindly omit flowers, the family suggests contributions to a charity of one’s choice.

Mrs. Gitterman was born in Kansas City, KS to Noah and Sarah Schachter in 1920. She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Paul Gitterman, in 2006. Mrs. Gitterman is survived by her son and daughter-in-law: Stephen and Esther Gitterman, Kansas City, MO; daughters and son-in-law: Susan Gitterman, Kansas City, MO; Teri and Sheldon Kallevig, Kansas City, MO; 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Here's what I wrote today on her guestbook at the funeral home:

Bob Mendelsohn - July 12th, 2009 at 2:02am - Email
It was my privilege to know Becky over many years and to spend time in kibbitzing, in serious and deep conversation, and in fun and jokes times as well.
What a wonderful woman for whom the family warmly prayed and cared. She will be sorely missed. Thankfully there's a good welcome in heaven for her because of G-d's awesome love and grace, and I anticipate seeing her again in due course.

May the Lord Himself comfort all those in the family Gitterman with similar comfort that Becky herself experienced and desired for each to know. She wanted to 'pass it on.'

End of entry...

You don't know how long you have. I don't know how long I have or how long you have. No wonder I'm so keen to help people like Becky find eternal life in Jesus. This photo was shot in Waids earlier this year, another one of those good meetings that Teri, her daughter and I had with her over food and the restaurant noise.

May God give you, each of you who reads this blog, a chance to hear of His love, and to receive Jesus as your messiah and Lord. Thankfully Becky took God at his word and received that message of eternal life. You never know how long you really have.

Jews and Jesus. The Great Divide

2009-07-11T04:22:00.001+10:00

AmyJill Levine and BobSydney
Originally uploaded by bobmendo

Jewish people all over the world are thinking about Jesus in unprecedented numbers, and it's not because they believe in him as messiah and Lord. And it may not be because of godly evangelistic campaigns worldwide. Since the turn of the 20th century Jewish academics and theologians have been revisiting the identity and the work and ministry of the Nazarene.

And how significant is that? Today I was witnessing in Bondi Junction, nearby our book shop in Sydney. And three young chassidim, ultra-orthodox Jewish men, were readying themselves for Shabbat. They were out to share what they believed as was I. One wanted to know if I had wrapped myself with tefillin that morning; another wanted to know why I believed in Jesus. But to even mention Jesus with a bit of honour was a surprise. The third used the derogatory slur "Yoshke" for Jesus and I corrected him. He recanted. He started calling him "Y'shua."

Wow, Orthodox Jewish people using the name Y'shua with honour and respect. I was surprised and delighted.

Last night I went to a lecture delievered by my recent friend Amy-Jill Levine (photo). She and I met last year about this time, and spent some good time discussing the issues of Jewish people and faith in Jesus. She had no problem discussing, she knew the terms, the parables, the words of Jesus and the apostles. And spoke them to me without a blink.

Sure, AJ is an academic. And her field of study and professorship is New Testament at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. So it should come as no surprise, except, wait a minute. AJ attends an Orthodox synagogue in Nashville. She's a faithful Jew. She does not believe in Jesus like I do, and tens of thousands of others of us.

So why the apparent comfort in discussing the issues? Isn't the Jesus of the New Testament the great divider? So how can centrist Jewish people who would radically disagree with our theological conclusions be comfortable in using his name and his parables, like it's a series of poems from Keats or stories from John Grisham.

Donald Hagner wrote about this phenomenon in the 1980s. He posited that the reclamationists, those Jewish academics like Neusner and Flusser and (he didn't know her then) AJ, accepted the ethics of Jesus, as little more than Talmudic Judaism re-tooled. But they refused the eschaton of Jesus, that part of the New Testament which allows him to claim to be the only way to the Father. His claims to be the Messiah. His claims to be the fulfillment of biblical Jewish desire for the consummation of all things.

In the Q and A session last night, a Holocaust survivor, a Mr Goldberg couldn't quite figure out what our lecturer was saying. He chronicled his own story from cheder in Poland to Auschwitz at 16 to learning of his parents' death inside the camps. He was saying he was a sufficiently schooled and real Jew, who although he didn't practice his religion and didn't really believe in God, wondered if AJ was using the parables of Jesus to bring Jews like him to believe in Jesus. Is that so? She denied it. Of course. She made it very clear that she found Jesus to be a serious Jewish teacher, not a liberal Jew, not a Roman-obsessed revolutionary. But not God.

It's a great conversation. It's all about the Great Divider. Hear these two quotes.
John 7.43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of Him.
John 10.19 There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words.
Seems that everywhere the real Jesus went, some believed and some didn't.

And that continued last night in Bondi, and today in Bondi Junction, and among people of good will and ill will, and throughout the world.

So what do you think? Who do you think Jesus is?

Coverups and Mystery...it's all so secret...tell me on a Sunday

2009-06-25T05:56:00.001+10:00

Seymour Sign City Road
Originally uploaded by bobmendo

The secret things; coverups and mystery... and a revelation

This week news presenters and reporters in the US had a go at President Barack Obama over his smoking habits. He in reply admitted that it was a persistent problem, that he had licked it 95% of the time and that he never smoked in front of the children or his family. That sounded good. That sounded honest. What precipitated this was a bunch of obfuscating, dance-around-the-issue answering that he had given only days before. And he had promised his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, that he would quit, if she let him run for president so many years earlier.

What prompted this series of Q-and-A was a major health care bill before Congress just now which includes a serious ban on advertising for young people, so that they never get started on cigarette smoking.

In another secrecy caper, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina admitted to having a year-long affair with a woman in Argentina. Mr. Sanford said he had taken an unplanned trip to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over accepting a portion of the federal stimulus funding. But that was not true. He went to see his mistress in Buenos Aires. The rising star of the Republican party knocked himself out of future candidacies and future fame in exchange for... a secret affair. If he had only titled it "adultery" rather than "an affair" it might have sounded far worse, but not to worry. His exchange of vocabulary is only the beginning of his troubles.

State Senator John Knotts blew the whistle on Sanford. He began investigating because he was worried about the missing executive, in case of a crisis that required swift decisions and Sanford had left no one in charge. Senator Knotts said that he was content to learn that the governor had been hiking on the Appalachian Trail, and would be coming home Wednesday. But when he learned Wednesday morning that the governor was actually in Argentina, he added: “It all could have been avoided if his staff started out not trying to cover up for him.”

Cover-ups and secrecy. The very word "Watergate" comes to mind. In fact, adding 'gate' to anything gives any secret the same juicy news-cycle rendering. Perhaps Obama will have 'smokinggate' or Sanford his 'Appal-tina-gate'. No matter, someone will spin things nicely, and they will both land on safe 'happily ever after' comfort. At least that's the usual for Dianas and Kennedys and even the US Veep, Joe Biden, after his 1992 plagiarism fiasco. We all forget. We're all human after all.

Mystery surrounds hidden things. Consider the case of Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue tunnel, closed since the middle of the 19th century, but still holding fascinating tales of German gas production and diaries of presidential assassins. What else lies beneath a major metropolitan area? How about the case of Prime Minister Harold Holt? The Australian Prime Minister Holt vanished in 1967 while swimming off the coast of the state of Victoria. His body was never recovered. Dozens of wild and strange theories about his disappearance quickly developed. Some people believed he committed suicide or faked suicide to live in Switzerland with his lover. Other rumors included a shark attack, a Chinese submarine kidnapping him and a CIA assassination plot.

We love mystery. We watch CSI and The Mentalist, before it was Alfred Hitchcock and Sherlock Holmes books-turned-movies. We want mystery AND we want them solved. Sometimes in 300 pages; more often lately in 55 minutes including commercials.

One of my favourite Bible books is the one ascribed to Daniel, the prophet. He was a young Jewish man, a political prisoner for a time in Babylon (ancient Iraq) who went to what we might call university with three other mates. While in jail, an offer came to interpret a dream. Here are some select passages to highlight what happened:

Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. (Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2)

Word got out that Nebuchadnezzar demanded that the interpreter of his dream not only had to interpret, but to reveal the dream. In other words, he had to know both what the king dreamed, but then to interpret what it meant. Daniel got the idea to ask his friends to pray for him.

Dan. 2.18 in order that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Dan. 2.19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven;
Dan. 2.27 Daniel answered before the king and said, “As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.
Dan. 2.30 “But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.
Dan. 2.47 The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”

Wow, what a heavy, what a day! "Dream-gate" was settled, and Daniel and his friends got seriously rewarded.

Dan. 2.48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
Dan. 2.49 And Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king’s court.

The rest of the book of Daniel is pretty remarkable as well. And it takes less time to read than an episode of "Law and Order."

One serious mystery Daniel addressed was the coming of the Messiah. This topic is one of the most interesting and time-consuming secrets of the Jewish Bible.

Here's what Daniel wrote in chapter 9 of his book:

“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary." (Chapter 9, verses 24-26)

Let's see if I can break down "Messiah-gate" with some precision.

According to this text, from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah there will be:
7 + 62 "weeks"= 69 groups of seven years so 7 x 69 = 483 years

For Jewish people, a year is 360 days.

483 years x 360 days in a year= 173,880 days

When was the decree to rebuild Jerusalem?

The decree to rebuild Jerusalem was given on the first day of Nisan, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1).
In our Western calendar system (the Julian calendar) that date is 14 March, 445 B.C.E.

The total number of days from 14 March 445 BCE to 6 April 32 CE.: 173,880 days

No wonder Jewish boys don't read this section until they are 30.

No wonder this information is secret.

It appears that the coming of the Messiah, that his very death is predicted with uncanny precision, to fall out in April, during Passover, 32 CE (or 32 AD) The mystery is revealed, a person is going to die (be cut off) from the Jewish people at an exact moment in history, and that will accomplish what has never been done before, "to make atonement for iniquity, to make an end of sin."

Wow, someone is going to die for our sins and bring us to God.

In 32 CE.

In Jerusalem ('the most holy place").

Seems clear to me.

Does it to you? Has the smoke cleared? Has the gate been revealed?

So many more prophecies are out there. The X-Files wondered about the truth "being out there." And now you know. And now you can find out more.

That's good news for you. And for me. And for any humble enough to ask God himself. He won't keep secrets things from you.

Moses told us in Torah: Deut. 29.29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons."

Y'shua said it this way, "Ask and it shall be given." (Matthew chapter 7, verse 7) He loves to reveal things to you and to know you, and to be known by you. Want eternal life? It's all a prayer away.

Manipulation: Can Somebody Say ‘Amen?’

2009-05-29T18:42:00.002+10:00

by Bob Mendelsohn
National Director, Jews for Jesus Australia

I’d never been to a physical therapist until last year. One Friday afternoon I slipped on some concrete and landed on my elbow. That elbow crashing into the ground forced my shoulder blade out of alignment, and my Supraspinatus tendon was torn from its rightful location. The pain was pretty severe that night and subsided over the next week or so, but it never really has gone completely away.

As a result and with some encouragement from some friends, I went to go see a physio. And the therapist seemed to help me in my visits to her. While I was standing at the reception to pay my first bill I saw the assortment of certificates and licenses that the therapist had achieved and the noble institutions from which she had graduated.

But then I saw her category of graduation and the titles of her degrees. And the one that struck me was her degree in “Manipulative Therapy.” Now I’d never heard of such a thing, and I was fascinated. All my life I’d heard that manipulation was a bad thing. Getting someone to do what they don’t naturally want to do and doing it in a deceptive manner, that seemed to be the definition, or at least the street rendering, of the word manipulation. But here I paid good money to have someone manipulate me. And that got me thinking.

There was always something inside me against television as I grew in my faith and desired to live a godly life. Oh of course there are many blessings in it. There’s no end to the possibilities of communicating the Gospel of Y’shua through the agency of television either on rented shows or hired advertisements and commercials. The beauty of film and television and telling stories is well chronicled. And Christian TV is a great boon to evangelism possibilities in Australia.

Nevertheless there are an abundance of television critics and they are increasing in number. Of note are sociologists like Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn who wrote “A Stranger’s Dream: the Virtual Self and the Socialization Crisis.” Also Sam van Eman who wrote “On Earth as it is in Advertising: Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope.” Their critique of television and its effects are well worth reading and considering.
I probably had only been a Christian for a year or two and was in an African-American church in Kansas City. Things were moving and shaking. The people were enthused about the Gospel and were clapping and shouting and making a joyful noise. They were doing everything right. However, at that time I had a view of Christianity that did not include that particular kind of expression. Why not? I really don’t remember. Perhaps I felt that the only version of Christianity that was right was the one in which I had come to faith. Perhaps it involved more young people or guitars and not organs. Maybe the style of sermon was more conversational and more of a Bible study than this kind, which was a shouting “amen-corner” experience.

Whatever the case I felt that the sermon was filled with manipulations. The pastor would say “Can I get a witness?” and everybody would shout “Amen!” At times it felt contrived. And I wondered if the people were even listening at all. I was reminded of Bill Cosby who talked about being in church and learning the phrases and responses for which he was responsible so that he could detach himself from participating in the service until those moments came. That whole matter of fitting in and looking good is for another article but for now it’s the Pavlovian requirements that can often be manipulative.

I have a friend named Steve who used to imitate the people in those churches. “Turn to the man next to you (and he would encourage us to turn) and say to them “I’m a child of God (we’d repeat: “I’m a child of God”). You’re a child of God (You’re a child of God). And God loves you and so do I (And God loves you and so do I)…” then Steve would add, “I will not (I will not) be manipulated (be manipulated) to repeat other people’s words (to repeat….).” You get it. Although it was in jest, I always felt that there was something to Steve’s perception about pastoral “guidance.”
What is it about manipulation that we detest? After all, we boast about how intelligent we have become as a human race. We read and watch the Internet; we know more about the inner workings of football clubs and scandal-ridden businesses than ever before. So if anyone is going to fall prey to manipulation, it should not be us, right?

And yet, there is a sucker born every minute, a quote (wrongly) attributed to PT Barnum. Whoever said it (MC McDonald, “Paper Collar” Joe Bessimer or Barnum’s archrival Adam Forepaugh); there is still a thought in there, which rings a bell. We recognize the nature of man to try to dominate and to make a person do what he doesn’t naturally want to do. We’ve known this since we were children and did not want to eat our vegetables contrary to our parents’ insistence. We didn’t want to write that essay or sit that exam. And yet, we did them. Were we manipulated or what?

I suppose we have to look at the differences between education or training and manipulation. We have to see the sociology of group behaviour and understand how people relate in all kinds of situations. And that’s a worthy exercise, unfortunately, not for this article. Maybe a more worthy enterprise just now would be to consider how God oversees us, makes us to do what we ought to do, and what our response has been and should be.

The apostle Paul wrote, “it is God who causes us to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2.13) Does that mean we are puppets? Not at all. The apostle continues with the command “Do all things without grumbling or disputing” and again, “I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.” (v. 14, v. 18)
We have a God who cares enough about us, who wants the best for us, that he gets involved and creates situations and opportunities for us by which our choices fall right in line with his best desires for us. And we have a responsibility and opportunity to respond to his sponsorship in this regard.

So God leads us from the inside, from our deepest spirit, to do what he wanted all along. And that’s a big difference from Old Covenant consideration. In the Torah, we see nothing of the kind.

Back in the Older Testament, Israel was responsible to perform God’s bidding. It’s almost as if we were instructed and then sent out to perform. Israel, you were… now you must be different. What’s missing? The assistance of the Holy Spirit is not there, to be sure. No wonder the prophet Jeremiah makes such a big point of the difference in Old and New Covenants in chapter 31.

Some struggle with the idea of being adjustable.

“Openness is essentially the willingness to grow, a distaste for ruts, eagerly standing on top-toe for a better view of what tomorrow brings. A man once bought a new radio, brought it home, placed it on the refrigerator, plugged it in, turned it to WSM in Nashville (home of the Grand Ole Opry), and then pulled all the knobs off! He had already tuned in all he ever wanted or expected to hear. Some marriages are "rutted" and rather dreary because either or both partners have yielded to the tyranny of the inevitable, "what has been will still be." Stay open to newness. Stay open to change.” (Grady Nutt, in Homemade, July 1990)

Rather than dominating or locking us into something we are not sure about or manipulating us, God leads us. He is the Good Shepherd who calls us to follow Him. He gives us information and guidance and although at times the pressure seems to increase in light of His information, He is ever the Gentlemen, ever the Free Will extender.
Here’s the key-- when God tells us to do something, we have the power to accomplish it, AND we ought to do it. Flee immorality, love the brethren, receive Jesus as Saviour, care for the poor, etc. Those are commands with great consequence for obedience and severe consequences for disobedience. God will allow us to make the choice to obey or to disobey. With each choice comes further choices and with each result comes further personal development and character. We become more callous or softer to His word.

I remember a brother telling me about an issue he had with me some years ago. He asked me if he could tell me something. I said, “Sure.” He said, ‘No wait, if I tell you, then you are responsible to do what God requires. If I don’t tell you, you may not know.” In other words we become responsible for what we hear, and he wanted to give me a choice. Of course, if I chose not to hear, that’s another matter, and would lead to more callousness, but that’s another story.

At the end of this article, can I get an ‘amen’ from you? Are you thinking, or simply knee-jerk reacting to the sounds of the preacher?

You decide. And that will make all the difference in the (your) world.

-----------------------
Bob Mendelsohn directs the work of Jews for Jesus in Australasia including Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. He was raised an Orthodox Jew in the US, and came to Christ in 1971. He is married and has three children. The family all lives in Sydney.

Pope visits Israel

2009-05-12T16:55:00.000+10:00

Is it good for the Jews? This is the number one question Jewish people ask when given almost any new situation particularly media reports about Israel. A new movie comes out and tells us about the Holocaust, and Jewish people ask, “Is it good for the Jews?” Wayne Swan our treasurer reports a new budget, and there is a deficit, and we wonder about our own situation, and then we question, “is it good for the Jews?” The pope comes to Israel and Jewish people worldwide mutter, “is it good for the Jews?” A Jewish man owns a Melbourne football club, and he comes under scrutiny from the courts. The club asks, “What is happening with our club?” but the Jews ask, “is it good for the Jews?”

The pope’s recent visit highlights the shrinking numbers of historic Christians in the region. Although there are three world religions based in that region, only Christianity and Judaism have founders who were there. Mohammed never visited Jerusalem, nor is it mentioned in the Koran. Even so, the pope sought to reach out to the Muslims in an uncomfortable way. Still, he had to notice the shrinking of Christian presence.

According to John Allen, Jr, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and senior Vatican analyst for CNN, “in 1948, Christians represented 20 percent of the population in what is now Israel. Today, he says, less than 2 percent. (150,000) Amidst the 6.4 million Jews and four million Palestinians.

Allen cites a 2005 study in Bethlehem, where the Christian percentage of the population has fallen from 80 to 20 percent, concluded that Christians’ middle-class status and higher education were the most important contributors to their emigration. But what of Muslim pressure to leave?

Some observers believe that if Christianity disappears, the prospects for peace become that much dimmer. Though they were a minority since the rise of Islam in the 7th century, Arab Christians have long played a leading role in the region’s social, political and economic affairs. For example, Syrian Michel Aflaq, the intellectual founder of the Ba’ath Party, was born in Damascus in 1910 to Christian parents. Literary theorist and Palestinian activist Edward Said likewise has Christian parentage.

The reality of Christian influence in the region is unmistakable. Their growth in numbers, and return to the Land may be something for which Alive readers dream and pray.

Pope Benedict XVI landed in Israel in May and immediately entangled himself in the political mire, which is modern Israel. After he lauded the role of security and peace between ‘both’ peoples (Arabs and Israelis), he commented on the evils of anti-Semitism. He called for peace and then sat down. Unlike most of us, he’s not there as a single tourist. He was not a private citizen of Rome. He’s a representative of a billion people on the planet. So when a Muslim activist, Taysir Tamimi spoke for 10 minutes (unscheduled) about the evil of Israel’s occupation, the pontiff was required to respond. He did not. Tamimi said, “Christians and Muslims must work together against Israel.” That’s no security and that’s not peace.

All the while, Jewish people wonder to themselves or aloud, “Is it good for the Jews?”
David Brickner is the leader of Jews for Jesus international and wrote in the February 2009 Australian (JFJ) newsletter about the plight of the persecuted church in Israel. He too says, “The Arab church is rapidly shrinking out of existence. They are being squeezed and pummeled by an increasingly extreme and strident form of Islam, a process that currently seems to be unchecked by an Israeli government that is struggling to cope with numerous political matters.”

Brickner reminds the readers not only of the persecution of Arab Christians, but also of Jewish Christians. Today only 15,000 Israeli Jews are following Jesus as Messiah and Lord. (Reported in Time magazine, 6 June 2008) That’s a big step up from the 3,000 in 1980, but still it’s a far cry from having reached the general populace. Less than one tenth of one percent believe in our Messiah. We have a lot of work to do. He says, “I must admit I felt hesitant about pointing out the persecution that Jewish and Arab believers in Jesus undergo in Israel. I don’t want any of our friends who read this newsletter to misunderstand or jump to conclusions about who and how many are to blame.” Yet it is true, radical Islamists are pushing the envelope using political expediency and gaining world opinion about being the persecuted, instead of the Church, the true believers in the Lord of Heaven and Earth. After citing various episodes of attack, Brickner calls on all believers to pray on behalf of those in distress.

So what is good for the Jews about that?

The ‘good’ is this: according to Brickner, “more Jewish people are open to the gospel than ever before.”

Last year alone tens of thousands of Israelis heard the Gospel directly via Gospel tract on the streets, as well as via phone or mail. No doubt hundreds of thousands of others heard or saw the Gospel from bus and billboard advertisements, from the Morning Talk Shows, and radio adverts--more than ever before. Even as I write this article on the heels of the papal visit to the Land, Jews for Jesus is conducting the third of 12 evangelistic campaign outreaches in another region of Israel, Upper Shefelah. Jewish believers from Israel and from outside the Land are gathered in that historic area and proclaiming the Saviour among Jews, especially Russian Jews, like never before.
There are now over 100 messianic communities and Bible groups meeting from Dan to Beersheba (the biblical way of saying from the northernmost north to the southernmost south). Each of those is constricted by Jewish and Muslim hostility. Each of those is seeking to bring the Gospel to their own. Each of those reports growth and life from heaven as a result of believers’ prayers.

It’s not only happening in Israel, but that’s the focus of this article. We are seeing and hearing about Jewish people in Far East Russia, even the leader of the synagogue in a significant village, who have come to faith in Jesus. We have heard about Jews in Argentina, and Adelaide and Sweden who are now following Jesus. How awesome is God to bring many in the last days to Himself.

We still have a lot of work to do.

The Gospel has to go to the ends of the earth before the end comes.

Larry Derfner is a feature writer for The Jerusalem Post. Derfner admits to being left-wing and a nouveau-Israelophile. He was born in the US but moved to Israel and served in the army, got married, found a job and settled there. As a writer, he covers a wide range of topics, including most recently Messianic Jews (Jews who believe in Jesus as Messiah).

He had an opinion based on popular caricaturing of our being (Aussie term) Bible bashers and anti-government. He intended to run an exposé similar to one of another feature write for the Hebrew daily Yediot Aharanot. She had gone ‘undercover’ in three different messianic congregations and then wrote false information and painting us as unstable. Derfner’s intention was similar, but he would not go undercover. He went above board. And then what he found in his research and reporting was markedly different to the Yediot report.

He says, “they are a benign bunch- native Israelis and immigrants- who were spiritually hungry and found a new ‘faith community.’” He continues, “In a way it’s kind of ironic. They are so shunned by the Israeli establishment, but in their neighborhoods, nobody hassles them.” The “official attitude is not approval, it is disapproval.” Yet his conclusion is “the music is beautiful. People are praying and they are so into it. How can you not like that? How can you not like them?”
Reports from Jewish Christian television hosts Jeffrey Seif (Zola Levitt Presents), David Chagall (The Last Hour), Neil and Jamie Lash (Jewish Jewels) and Jonathan Bernis (Jewish Voice Today) all report significant outreach and personal ministry in the Land of Israel. We hope to write more about those ministries in the months to come. For now, rejoice with us that Jews (and others) are finding Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and although persecution comes, Jesus is indeed ‘good for the Jews!’

Footnotes:
J Allen quotes and references from CNN online edition, World section, 11 May 2009
Brickner quotes are from Volume 10:4, Jews for Jesus newsletter, Sydney, February 2009
Derfner quotes are from Jerusalem Post, 8 August 2008)

Perspective

2009-04-22T08:02:00.002+10:00

Perspective
Originally uploaded by bobmendo

I flew from the US last week and went through Los Angeles Airport (LAX). What a view I saw as I scurried from one concourse to another. I had to stop. And maybe that's what is required in life, too.

So much news about trillion dollar bailouts. So much news about gay rights. About wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. About North Korea and its missiles. It can be overwhelming. Global warming, global crises.. how do we solve them? Can we even be a part of solving them?

Miss California, Carrie Prejean, was in the Final Five for Miss USA. She was so close. Then Perez Hilton, a celebrity blogger, and himself a gay man and activist, asked her about gay rights and gay marriages. She answered saying that she believed in marriage between a man and a woman.

Hilton replied later on "The Early Show" on CBS in the USA, "When I first heard her answer, I was shocked, because I thought having been from California, a state that recently passed Proposition 8 outlawing same-sex marriage, she should have been better prepared to answer that question." "There are various other ways she could have answered that question and still stayed true to herself without alienating millions of people."

On NBC's "Today" show, Prejean stood by her answer, saying she had "spoken from my heart, from my beliefs and for my God" and never meant to offend anyone.

"When I heard it from him, I knew at that moment after I had answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer," she continued. "It's not about being politically correct. For me it was being biblically correct."

There it is. Being correct is about having a right perspective. Is it celebrity thinking or biblical thinking? Good answer Miss Prejean.

James Pinkerton is a FOX news analyst. He writes about the bailouts and torture as follows:

Why seek to thwart bad behavior now–bad behavior that’s happening in real time, all the time, costing the taxpayers billions–when it’s so much more fun to investigate your opponent’s supposed bad behavior in years past? Besides, since so much of the current financial skullduggery seems to involve top Democrats, why not seek to change the subject entirely–for instance, by aiming the investigative attack dogs overseas? Why go after sitting Democratic governors when you can go after CIA agents?

Democrats in both the Executive and Legislative Branches are moving to establish some sort of “Truth Commission” aimed at uncovering instances of torture and other possibly illegal acts committed by government operatives during the Bush administration. And what will happen after such an uncovering? Justice Department prosecutions? Civil suits? Indictments from overseas, followed by extradition efforts? More terror? Nobody knows, but everybody should be worried.

Leading figures from the Bush era, including former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, warned last week in The Wall Street Journal that retroactive vindictiveness towards people who operated according to good faith understanding–tough rules for a murky counter-terror road–would be a calamitous mistake, potentially jeopardizing all Americans.

They need perspective.
And so do I.
And so do you.

And whether it's a truth commission or a biblically correct re-think, it's time to get it right.

Where will you go to gain Truth?
Where will you go to get biblical correctness?

Start with the Bible, read the book of Proverbs, and the Gospel of John, and see what God had to say about so much of our lives. It couldn't hurt, right?

Empty shop

2009-03-10T17:40:00.001+11:00

Empty shop
Originally uploaded by bobmendo

Jews for Jesus began about 32 AD, give or take a year. So says our sign outside our NYC and San Fran offices. And what's a beginning? It's a chance to start over, to make things new, to create. This week another university (UNSW) began and with it, so many thoughts and hopes for many. But really each year begins like our book shop began some years ago. A tabula rasa, an empty tablet, ready to have things inscribed and filled in. A chance to make things new and to make a difference in the dark world in which we live.

Our shop is filled now with books and CDs and tshirts and shofars and mezuzahs and menorahs and so many wonderful things, but one day the shop will probably be empty again.

Sunday a pastor was killed in his church in the US, and we can but weep for the emptiness which will attend his family and church family for a while. I guess it's true what the Bible says that we start and end the same "ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

What do we do with our lives during the days? What do we do to fill in the room of our lives with stuff and clutter and invigoration and spirit? At the end of our lives, when things are done and dusted, what difference will we have made?

Good thoughts on an autumn afternoon here in Sydney. In some settings in Australia and New Zealand the leaves are changing colours and winter is peeking around the corner. Let's fill in our houses and stores and rooms and lives with meaning and meaningfulness.

Justice and Mercy ...in one!

2009-02-22T17:09:00.001+11:00

Sydney, Australia - Former Moriah student Jaron Hoffenberg has been given a good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to vandalising the Jews for Jesus’ storefront in Bondi Junction last month.

In Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, February 20, Magistrate William Brydon said he was satisfied that Hoffenberg, 19, from Dover Heights, was repentant for his actions in the early morning of January 29 when he urinated on the Oxford Street store’s door and threw a brick through its window, causing about $3000 worth in damage.

The incident was captured on CCTV.

Weighing up the defendant’s remorse and age against the attack’s “anti-Semitic flavour”, however, he found Hoffenberg guilty of one charge of malicious damage to property with conviction and placed him on a one-year good behaviour bond.

Hoffenberg was also found guilty of offensive behaviour and willful and obscene exposure in public.

No conviction was recorded and Hoffenberg was given a two-year good behavior bond.

Separately, Terence Abrams, 19, from Dover Heights, who was arrested with Hoffenberg on the night and charged with one count of malicious damage to property, has had his case delayed by request until March 18.

Brydon said: “There’s no doubt [Hoffenberg] is remorseful and contrite for his behaviour.

“I accept that alcohol was a part of this, but people have to be responsible for themselves.”

Hoffenberg's lawyer Richard Shakenovsky had earlier argued before the court that the vandalism attack was “alcohol induced” and “out of character” for the University of Sydney engineering student who had no prior history of arrests.

He also noted that Hoffenberg had apologised for his actions and paid for the damage to property.

Jews for Jesus national director Bob Mendelsohn told The AJN that he had accepted Hoffenberg’s apology and payment.

“I’m not vindictive. He’s sorry. No need to keep shaming him,” said Mendelsohn.

It is not the first time Jews for Jesus, which opened the shop on Oxford Street in October 2004, has been the target of such attacks.

There was a spate of attacks in 2005, in which the shop was vandalised on three separate occasions.

Hell and all its fury

2009-02-08T18:52:00.003+11:00

Kevin Rudd weighed in on Sunday with this comment, "Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours." As I write this on Sunday at 7 pm, Channel 9 reported 65 people reported dead and 660 homes lost in the bushfires throughout Victoria. New South Wales premier Nathan Rees rang his Victorian counterpart John Brumbie to offer help and condolences. The television showed Prime Minister Rudd hugging in solace a Victorian man who had lost everything. No feeling person can be left untouched.

The fire started in East Kilmore, 80km north of Melbourne, and covered a huge area as it pushed 30km east to Kinglake, through the small townships of Wandong, Glenburn, Strathewen and Clonbinane. On the radio and tv reports some are attributing 'angel' status to neighbours who helped out and are like heroes.

During the toss of the coin as the 3rd One Day International cricket began in Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground, both captains Ricky Ponting and Daniel Vittori of New Zealand, wore black arm bands to identify and mourn the losses in the bushfires in Victoria.

What can you do to help the victims?

National Australia Bank also established the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund today, donating $1 million to the cause.

NAB Group Chief Executive Officer Cameron Clyne said the bank would work with customers and affected communities to provide relief.

"Our thoughts are with those personally affected, and we offer our heartfelt support and encouragement to the firefighters and volunteers who continue to battle to save properties," he said.

Donations to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund can be made at any NAB branch or via internet banking. BSB: 082-001. Account number: 860 046 797.

Victoria Police have urged those wishing to donate not to tie up 000 and other emergency hotlines and instead to call the Red Cross Information Line on 1800 727 077.

Usually in this blog, we comment on the news of the day and help you to sort out religious issues and especially the person of Y'shua. I believe we will get back to that soon enough, but for now, show compassion and help if you can, whether in the US or Australia or anywhere on the planet.

Certainly we could comment about 'hell and all its fury' being unleashed and how we need a hero. We need someone to save us. We need to be rescued. The 'preaching' is clear. I don't want to diminish that, but in this crisis, I want you to help provide for many, many Victorians who have lost everything. God help us to care.

Hotheads (Setanta, weather, Jews and Muslims, Economic crisis)

2009-02-07T08:41:00.002+11:00

It's hot out there. And it's heating up, too. Sydney is set for record temps today and this weekend, and Melbourne continues the heat wave that almost knocked many out of the Australian (tennis) Open a week ago. Adelaide high today 41 and Melbourne 44. Buckle your seat belts and run to the library and museum and cinema.

Pictured is Setanta O'hAilpin who ripped into his teammate Cameron Cloke on Friday. It's not the first time O'hAilpin (sic) has been sat down for such behaviour.

Cloke has a black eye and a bruised jaw, and probably won't mention the effect of the groin kick by O'hAilpin either. Cain Ackland experienced O'hAilpin's rage in June 2007 being the brunt of another attack. And on a teammate. Shocking. The question has to be asked, "Is this hothead worth all the bother to the Blues?"

In the Middle East, things seem calm (not true), but here at home, Australian Muslims are "seething with anger" at what they perceive as the Australian Government's one-sided treatment of last month's Israeli incursion into Gaza, a Melbourne leader said yesterday.

Ramzi Elsayed, president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said he had never seen the community so hurt or aggrieved, especially after acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Israel was responding to Hamas aggression after Hamas broke the ceasefire.

"It's as though they think one Jewish life is worth 100 Palestinians," he said. "Enough's enough. It's time to call the facts as they are. Israel broke the ceasefire on 4 November."

Responding to a Jewish threat to sever ties with Australia's Muslims if the president of its peak body did not withdraw a comparison between Gaza and the Holocaust, Mr Elsayed said a cooling-off period was inevitable anyway. This is reported in the Melbourne Age by Barney Zwartz.

"There's going to be some open wounds which will take time to heal. Tension and hatred has built as never before in the Middle East, and that's the danger in Australia."

The economic downturn has turned into a crisis and now an economic meltdown, no doubt a metaphor used in Aussie summer as the heat index rises and rage seems the only option for some. Wednesday the NAB in Neutral Bay was vandalized and contents taken from the ATM. The ABC reported yesterday that when the temperature rises, so does rage and anger. Agro is the watchword of the heated.

John Huxley, Paul Bibby and Malcolm Knox reported in the Sydney Morning Herald today about Craig Roberts. His answers seem timely and deserve to be heard.

Craig Roberts is the Neutral Bay Anglican minister of St Augustine's Church.

But just like the community's self-funded retirees and young unit-dwellers, its majority of "comfortable" well-to-do residents have been hurt by the [economic] crisis.

Just how badly was brought home to him when he officiated at the funeral of a local financial manager, one of two depressed young men to have committed suicide recently. "It was terribly emotional," he says.

Despite this week's recession package, Roberts fears the situation will worsen. A former financier, he speaks a language fallen high-flyers understand. He chastens them for linking their sense of self-worth to their net asset position. He advises them to extend "internal investment horizons" beyond the next deal, the next bonus, to the eternal.

He urges them to spend time with their children, instead of showering them with in-ground pools, Xboxes and Nike runners.

Not a bad thought, Craig. And for hotheads to cool down, a dose of godliness and God Himself is the right call. It puts the heat wave in perspective and calms aching hearts.

Isaiah the prophet wrote about this:
For Thou hast been a defense for the helpless, A defense for the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the breath of the ruthless Is like a rain storm against a wall. Like heat in drought, Thou dost subdue the uproar of aliens; Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced. (Isaiah 25.4-5)

Let's get it right with God and no matter what comes at us, fists, weather, economic woes... we can handle it all, in faith and calm.

Two things in view and a baby born of a virgin

2008-12-24T09:09:00.001+11:00

Pamplona baluarte
Originally uploaded by al_loromanchego

Sometimes two people can be looking at different things and making comments in contrast, and sometimes one person can be looking at two different things at the same time and making comments. This could be confusing. Let me explain.

For the first, the story is told of two ladies sitting on the porch on a Wednesday evening in Tennessee. One is listening to the church choir practicing and the other is listening to the sounds of the crickets. The first, "Don't they make beautiful music?" Replied the second, "Yes, and I hear they do it by rubbing their legs together."

For the 2nd, and more timely to the season is the story told by Isaiah the Jewish prophet some 700 years before the birth of Jesus. Isaiah is writing his prophecy to encourage two different sets of folks. One living in his time, much like the wall and bridge we see in the photo, and the other group of people who are living 7 centuries later, much like the faint far-away building in the background of the photo.

The hint of how this works in found in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. There we read "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

The hint? The Hebrew word for 'you' in verse 14 is in the plural. Whereas the context of the comforting words is a message to the king, King Ahaz, all of a sudden, there is a shift to make this plural. So a larger group can be assured of the sign, of the guarantee of God's presence. I believe this is the double view of the prophet.

The significance for us? God wanted to speak words of comfort to the king in 700 BC (or so) and that's good news for him. And God wants to speak good news and comfort to us about a virgin having a baby and his name would be "God with us" (That's how Immanuel translates).

When I hear the Christmas story, I don't think of Santa, or of presents or reindeer. I think of God comforting us, of sending his presence and of the redemption that's found only in the Son of the Virgin, Y'shua (Jesus), who gives eternal life to all who believe.

That's good news!

To all who read this blog... a very merry Messiah-mas!
______________________________________________

Actual text of Isaiah says this, "Not long after this, the LORD sent this message to King Ahaz: "Ask me for a sign, Ahaz, to prove that I will crush your enemies as I have promised. Ask for anything you like, and make it as difficult as you want." But the king refused. "No," he said, "I wouldn't test the LORD like that."Then Isaiah said, "Listen well, you royal family of David! You aren't satisfied to exhaust my patience. You exhaust the patience of God as well! All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin* will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel--`God is with us.' By the time this child is old enough to eat curds and honey, he will know enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong. But before he knows right from wrong, the two kings you fear so much--the kings of Israel and Aram--will both be dead. " (Isaiah 7.10-16)

_____________________________________

My new friend Alvaro, who lives in Madrid, shot this photo on a trip to Pamplona last month. Gracias, amigo, por la foto. Y Feliz Navidad y prospero año nuevo.

Australia: The movie

2008-12-07T00:23:00.000+11:00

An Epic story: Australia

I’m from Kansas. I grew up there in what has become known as the “Land of Oz.” The themes from “Wizard of Oz” and even the Judy Garland song “Somewhere over the rainbow” feature sharply in “Australia” the movie.

Baz Luhrmann directs the movie. Giant actors like Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman make this story of our country bigger than life, or at least bigger than Errol Flynn! There are cattle driving scenes which could be found in ‘epic’ movies, but too many zooms for such a grand adjective. It’s just not big enough for me.

Ever-good as an actor, Bryan Brown brings the king into our movie houses, and when he waltzes with Nicole, we are transported to another era and another place.

Many other Aussie actors like Tony Barry are well chosen. The film shows the harsh life in the 1940s in our country, and an epic love story, it all goes to bring us to another place.

The trailer features the twice-said line, “Just because it is, doesn’t mean [that’s the way] it should be.” I liked that thought. We who are involved in thinking outside the traditional method of thinking, whether in religion like me, or in politics or in basketball or whatever, look beyond the traditional borders and actually break or seek to break them. For us the epic is an encouragement.

The movie speaks of racism in its ugliest colouring from the Stolen Generations (creamies, meaning offspring or mixed black and white people) to those who intersect and engage with them. Again, a very good subplot to discuss and consider. It’s an ugly part of Aussie and most Western civilization. Earlier this year (as the film also highlights in the end segment) our Prime Minister apologized for such activities. Thank you Mr Rudd.

So what is the ‘other place’ the movie takes us to? 1942 Darwin and Japanese bombing? Of course. To romance between Nicole and Jackman? Of course. But to Oz? That’s another question.

Nicole tells the young creamy a story, and glances down to get her topic from the newspaper of the day. The story: The Wizard of Oz. So a girl (is it Nic?) sets about to a far distant land (is it Faraway Downs, her homestead?) with her dog (Nic brings a horse) and gets caught in a storm (is it the business dealings with Brown’s character or the 2nd World War itself?). OK, the similarities are clear there.

But where is Nic’s Oz? Is it romance or the homestead? That’s missing for me. It’s no coincidence that Australia is nicknamed Oz (or Aus) for people of the world. And her people are Aussies. So is Luhrmann intimating that Australia is Oz, and Dorothy would never have clicked her ruby slippers if only she had found Sydney or Darwin on the Yellow Brick Road? Perhaps. And it is a great land. And the people are great.

All the while, I’m thinking about another place. And being transported to where no racism lives, and no place is as it is, only because it is. Things are the way they should be. Without apologies, we can all get there.

The place is Heaven. The owner is God and we can be tenants if we desire and long for such. We don’t earn our way there anymore than Dorothy earned her way to the farm in Kansas. It’s given to God’s children, one by one, to all who put their faith in Him and in His Son, Y’shua.

This is indeed, the ‘other place.’

And one to find out about. I recommend the Bible for you who want to know more. Great place to start. And hey, in 3 hours, the length of the epic Australia, you could get a lot of reading done. And may I recommend you start at say, John’s Gospel . That’s a biography by John of the person of Jesus. John lived with Jesus, so it’s a firsthand account. Very reliable.

Enjoy the movie. If you live here, you will probably like the movie better than those who have never been here. And enjoy the ‘other place’ too. That will last for a long, long time. And with great reviews, too.

A mother's love?

2008-12-05T15:56:00.000+11:00

Mothers gone mad

The mother of a two-year-old boy whose body was found in a suitcase appeared in the NSW Supreme Court today for the first time since she was charged with his murder. Rachel Pfitzner is accused of killing her son, Dean Shillingsworth, and dumping his body in a suitcase lined with a plastic bag at a pond in Ambarvale, near Campbelltown.

According to court documents, she picked him up by the cord of his jumper and shook him until he went limp and started to gurgle and froth at the mouth. She allegedly told police she had tried to resuscitate him by tilting back his head and breathing into his mouth.

Over in the UK, here's another insane mother story.

A British mother was found guilty on Thursday of kidnapping her own nine-year-old daughter, probably to scoop the reward money when the girl was found.

The disappearance of Shannon Matthews prompted one of the biggest searches in British history, costing over £3 million ($6.83 million), but she was found safely 24 days later in the base of a divan bed at the flat of Michael Donovan.

Donovan, 40, was convicted along with the girl's mother, 33-year-old Karen Matthews, who is from Dewsbury in northern England. He is the uncle of her former partner. Prosecutors said Donovan kept the schoolgirl drugged and imprisoned in his flat less than a mile from her home as part of a plan he and Karen Matthews hatched to claim reward money.

But back home this one is worse.

A man who stabbed his fiesty environmentalist mother to death says his only regret is that he didn't murder her 20 years ago, a Sydney court has been told.

Adam Patrick Owens, 35, of Cremorne on Sydney's North Shore, has admitted murdering his mother Doris Owens, 69, between September 6 and 9, 2006.

The body of the woman, known as a staunch environmental campaigner in the seaside village of Swanhaven, near Sussex Inlet on the NSW south coast, was not found until September 12, 2006.

Owens pleaded guilty to her murder moments before he was due to face trial last month.

During sentencing submissions in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, Owens asked for any mitigating factors to be ignored by the judge and a maximum sentence imposed.

"I knew exactly what I was doing. My intention was to kill her and anything else is incorrect," Owens told the court.

"It was quite clear what I was doing.

"I'm not in the least remorseful, nor am I repentant.

Wow, what are these people (not) thinking? A mother is a mother and they say there's nothing like a mother's love. (Spoken by a father, of course)

I'm shocked, but why? If people like Owens will not repent, if they will not be remorseful, for whatever reasons, then the world only gets worse. God help us. God help us to repent. God help us to love our mothers, our children, our friends, even our enemies. That would make God happy. And that, in turn, makes us happy. Won't it?

Jewish Puerto Rican Christmas Hanukkah?

2008-11-08T08:22:00.003+11:00

ShaunReading
Originally uploaded by bobmendo

Shalom Blog readers.

Usually I write the story and the commentary here. But today I received an email from ISSUES magazine, from Matt Sieger, who wrote about my friend Shaun, and the seasonal nature of the story, and the reality of Shaun's life is too good to miss. So here you go, enjoy!

“A Not-so-Typical Holiday Story”

by Matt Sieger

As Shaun Buchhalter notes, being a Jewish Puerto Rican is probably more common in New York City than elsewhere. But that didn’t make it any easier. Especially during the December holidays.

Born to a Jewish father and Puerto Rican Catholic mother, 30-year-old Shaun grew up in what was then the very Jewish neighborhood of West Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. He and his immediate family, his paternal grandparents and his dad’s brother all lived within a block of each other in three separate high-rise apartment buildings. Although Shaun’s father was not religious, Shaun’s grandmother, Rita, was. Grandma Rita was determined to see that Shaun had a good Jewish upbringing.

“Despite my father marrying a non-Jewish girl,” Shaun explains, “Grandma Rita was adamant that I would have a strong Jewish identity. At Hanukkah, she would give me a gift on all eight nights. Hanukkah was when I got my first Nintendo and my first bike—from my grandmother.”

Shaun says his grandmother was competing with his Puerto Rican mother’s side of the family, which showered him, his siblings and cousins with presents on Christmas. Not to be outdone, Grandma Rita made great latkes, which Shaun ate with delight. Her home was the focal point of all the Jewish holiday celebrations.

Although Shaun’s mother is a traditional Catholic, she did not stress religion in the home. She attended Christmas and Easter services every year, but she did not make Shaun and his younger brother and sister go with her. Although he never had his confirmation service, Shaun did have his first communion at age seven. His grandmother Rita attended.

“She wasn’t excited about it,” Shaun recalls. “But I think she did it to support my mom, who she eventually did come to really love.”
Rita had arranged for Shaun to begin Hebrew school in order to prepare him for his bar mitzvah. But she passed away when Shaun was in fifth grade. As neither Shaun’s father nor grandfather was very concerned about his religious education, Hebrew school never materialized.

Soon after his grandmother’s death, Shaun’s family moved to Stony Brook, a New York suburb on Long Island. Shaun says there was a real shift in his cultural identity once he moved to the Island, as evidenced in part by his family’s Hanukkah observance.

“The menorah was always up. And in the beginning I would get gifts,” he remembers. “But by late junior high, it kind of trickled off, except from some of the relatives. My grandfather would still send a gift, but it was never quite as extravagant as when Grandma Rita was alive. Most of the gifts from my parents came on Christmas.”

Interestingly, it was Shaun’s mom, Miriam (often a Jewish name!), who made sure the menorah was displayed at Hanukkah. She also, until Shaun was married, would call him to remind him to light a Yarzheit candle in remembrance of relatives who had passed away.

Even though religion was not a focus in his home, Shaun always felt divided as the two sides of his heritage continued to tug at him internally.

“Usually your religion follows through your mother’s side of the family,” Shaun explains, “so there was always a tension. Am I Jewish? Am I Catholic? It was strange in that when I would visit my mother’s side of the family, they would call me a Jew and kind of make fun of me in that regard. Then when I went to my father’s side of the family for the Jewish holidays, they would tease me about being Puerto Rican!”

Shaun says he always believed in God. But he does not attribute that to his exposure to either Judaism or Catholicism.

“I did go to Catholic services more than I went to synagogue,” he notes. “But I didn’t get anything out of it. I don’t remember anything. If you had asked me as a teenager who Jesus was, I would not have been able to say what Catholics believe about him. I didn’t pay attention to anything. That was my nature. And I certainly didn’t read any materials. I didn’t read anything in school! So why would I read any of the religious stuff?

“Even so, I just always knew, always believed that there was some type of transcendent being. But it didn’t have much of an impact on the way I lived. Minimally, at most.”

Shaun enrolled at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. But after his freshman year, he knew it was time for a change.

“I recognized that I needed to get away from the stereotypical college lifestyle I was living in New York—hanging out, partying, girls,” he says. “I wanted my life to mean something more than that. My family had also ingrained in me that success was the result of education. So I transferred schools to pursue that. And I chose North Carolina to get away from New York.”

Shaun enrolled at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte for his sophomore year. The subject of God came up right away.
“My first day on campus, I noticed a beautiful girl,” Shaun says. “As I approached her, hoping to get a date, I got a big surprise. She told me she believed in Jesus and explained that she only would date someone who believed as she did. Natalie let me know right from the beginning the importance of her faith in God. Her lifestyle intrigued me.
“That first semester I had many interactions with Christians who challenged my understanding of God and religion. It got me started on my own process of thinking through spirituality. On New Year’s Eve, I found myself kneeling at the corner of my bed asking God, if he really did exist, to show himself to me. A month later I bumped into Natalie, and she invited me to a meeting hosted by a Christian group on campus. I attended, and the message was entitled “What Are You Living For?” It got me really thinking. A week later, in February 1998, I confessed as many sins as I could remember and asked Jesus to come into my life.”

As Shaun began to tell other Jews about his experience, his new faith was challenged.

“I still identified myself as a Jew, very much so,” Shaun says, “and I found myself interacting with many Jewish people, sharing my story with them. When they asked if I was still Jewish, I’d always say yes. And they would have this very hostile response to me. I wondered why these individuals were getting upset at me, just because I believe in Jesus. Due to my blended upbringing, I wasn’t aware of how big an issue it was for a Jewish person. But once I began to realize that, it made me want to explore even more the veracity of Jesus being the Messiah. As a result of my own personal study of the Bible and conversations with other Jewish believers in Jesus, I began to see the connection between Jewishness and Jesus.

“It was within about a year that my faith, culture and identity came together. Everything now made sense. I no longer felt a conflict—who was I going to disappoint, or which religion do I identify with more. It just kind of brought the two together.”

...end....

For more thoughts by others on Hanukkah and Christmas, you might want to order "A Messianic Look at Hanukkah and Christmas" by a collection of authors. Order here

Trumpets...what's that about?

2008-09-29T15:24:00.002+10:00

A Rosh Hashanah message.

I love holidays. Maybe you do, also. And tonight is the beginning of a seriously long holiday season. I’m not talking about wandering through David Jones and seeing how much holiday cheer is already up. The green and red of Christmas abounds …and if I remember right, it’s only September. So for the merchants of Bondi Junction, this is a seriously long holiday season. At least they hope so. And maybe for them, that makes their holidays worthwhile and bright.

No, when I mention holidays, and tonight’s beginning, I’m talking about the season of The High Holidays. It begins with Tishri. This Hebrew month is filled with strange and unusual holiday celebrations and includes tonight, 3 days from now, 10 days from now, fifteen days from now and then lasting 8 or 9 more days. There are seven holidays all up in the biblical record of Leviticus 23, and seven is the number of completion.
The holidays have odd names, too. Feast of Trumpets, Fast of Gedaliah, Day of Atonement, Festival of Tabernacles, Eighth day of assembly, The great hosanna, and Rejoicing in Torah. Nothing as clear as Anzac Day is it?

And tonight is the beginning. The name of the holiday on your Hallmark calendar is New Year, a translation of Rosh Hashanah. Now I know, some of you know that in the Bible, in Leviticus 23, we read of this day as a day of blowing of Trumpets and that it occurs in the 7th month. So there might be confusion. Fair enough.

I don’t want to belabor this, but God changed the calendar about 3,500 years ago, as he wanted us to remember our Exodus from Egypt as well as Creation. Tonight is still the new year reminding us of the anniversary of Creation, some 6,000 years ago. And the first month was changed in Exodus chapter 12 to Nisan, 6 months from now. We shouldn’t be surprised by this change. This Sunday morning in Australia we will change our clocks an hour. Now, you know, time doesn’t change, but our measurement of it does. And that’s all that God was doing in this 6-month biblical adjustment.
So let’s think about trumpets.

Trumpets? What’s that about? Next weekend in Manly is the jazz festival, so is there a biblical festival also for drums or guitars? Is there some festival for trombones or tubas? Why trumpets after all?
Let me tell you some thoughts.

Before there was email, before there was 24-hour TV news coverage, before there were mobile phones, there was the trumpet. Listen to these texts and my quick comments:
Joel 2.1: Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain. Here the trumpet is used as an alarm, a strong signal to remind the Jewish people that trouble is ahead.

Matthew 6.2: “When you give charity, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues.” I suppose we could highlight the seating in synagogues even tonight, as people who have given larger sums are seated closer to the bimah. Trumpeting then is a way of showing off, of making sure people know how charitable one is. Sort of like the man who announced on national television that he was going to be teaching a course, “Humility and how I attained it.”

Leviticus 23.24: “In the 7th month, on the first of the month, you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets.” This trumpet was the reminder, sort of like getting a beep from your mobile or office notifications on your computer here, to help you remember the rest, and the purpose of the rest.

Numbers 10.2: “Make trumpets… and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for having the camps set out.” Two different trumpet calls were employed here. One for calling the people together and the other as an exit notification.

Other texts of note indicate that trumpets were used for a king taking a throne (1 Kings 34.39), starting a Jubilee year (Lev. 25.9), even the announcement of the messiah’s coming (Zechariah 9.14). This is not an exhaustive list. As you can see, the Bible is full of reasons and purposes of trumpet calling.

My favourite however is the use of trumpets in the Bible book of Joshua, recorded in chapter 6. It’s one of the strangest stories in the Bible, and that’s saying a lot.
In this story, 7 priests carry 7 shofrot. The word ‘shofar’ is used for the first time in the Bible in this text. We are instructed as a people outside the walled city of Jericho what God wants us to do. Militarily, we are outnumbered. By military training we are outclassed. In strategy of defense in war, the walls are insurmountable. This is sure defeat for the people of Israel.

Even so, God opens the chapter with these words, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.” God must know what he is doing and saying, but please. Jericho? Maybe God could choose something easier for our first battle in the Promised Land? How about a clubhouse run by some Ammonites?

But like so many at the MCG last Saturday, there were many people who believed Hawthorn would take down the heavily-favored Mighty Cats. And that faith was well-founded and produced a fairly easy victory in the Grand Final of the AFL to the Hawks.

I suppose there is something similar and yet much more significant in the battle of Jericho. God was telling the Jewish people not to worry about the apparent strengths of the Jericho people. Don’t worry about being the underdog. He was saying, “Israel, you will win. I have given you the territory.”

Let me ask you, has God told you to go in and take the land? Has God told you or asked you to do something impossible? Friends, nothing is impossible with God. What about overcoming our sins? Today we enter the 10 days, the Aseret y’mei t’shuva. These 10 days we are scheduled to consider our sins and consider God’s love and hope for forgiveness. By every natural means, we would be disheartened. None of us deserves forgiveness. Did you hear the words of King David and his humility in Psalm 51? But it’s not up to us or our righteousness. Nothing is impossible with God!

Look at the method of conquest at Jericho. The Bible says the Jewish people were to march around the city 6 times, that is, once per day for most of a week. Then on the 7th day, to march around 7 times. A total of 13 trips. Each time the priests, the 7 priests were to blast the trumpets with a t’kiah. And finally on the 7th day, during the 7 loops, the 7 priests were to blast a long blast, which launched the peoples’ shouting. And it was the shout and the trump and the faith in the God who told us to do all that which eventuated in the collapse of the strong walls of Jericho and the subsequent conquest of the city.

The victory at Jericho was not about trumpets, but about the God who instructed us to blow them. And in these days we blow trumpets to remind us of that same God. Don't get distracted with the stuff which is religion. Real life is not about the prayer shawl or about the menorah or even the Bible. Real life is in the God of the Bible, the God who instructed us about the tallit or the menorah or the trumpet.
In God the impossible becomes the possible.

I’ve seen so many believers get caught up in the trappings of religion. The trumpets are reminders. They remind us to trust God, to listen to God, to learn from God. The trumpets are not there, or here, to be a talisman or amulet like a Kabbalah wristband. Listen to the trumpet and be driven to the Almighty!

And wait, there’s a trumpet yet to blast. Not only here tonight, and I thank Brian and Helen for blowing the shofrot for us tonight. But the words about the shofar blast which is yet to come is recorded for us in the Newer Testament.

Paul the rabbi turned Jesus-follower taught about the last days. He said (1 Thessalonians 4) when Y’shua returns that the angels will shout and the trumpet of God will blast. The dead in Messiah will rise first, and that resurrection will herald the consummation of all things.

When the final trumpet is blasted from heaven, believers in Y’shua will gather to meet him. And we’ll be there. That trumpet will herald a new era in eternity. And a new era for humanity. And for you and for me. And all those who trust in Y’shua as our Saviour and Lord.

Salvation comes from him. He is the Messiah who died for our sins and rose from the dead. He died that we might be forgiven and have life and have it eternally and abundantly.

You heard the story tonight of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, a story from the Book of Genesis, traditionally read on Rosh Hashanah. And you probably heard the parallels in that story with the story of the Crucifixion of Y’shua. His death… his sacrifice… is our salvation.

May the seven priests with seven shofrot send a signal to you of God’s completing his work. It is finished…all done, God has done it all in Y’shua his son.

As we conclude tonight, I hope your holiday, actually your holiday season, is full of divine joy. May you know the Lord of the Trumpets and celebrate the fullness of God’s pleasure in knowing Y’shua, in rejoicing in the one who forgives us our sins. He tabernacled with us and will come again to bring us forever. Thanks be to God. And my wish for each of you is a serious and full-of-joy shana tovah.

Berlin Declaration

2008-09-28T06:59:00.001+10:00

The Berlin Declaration on the Uniqueness of Christ and Jewish Evangelism in Europe Today

An international task force of the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) met on the issue of the uniqueness of Christ and Jewish evangelism in Berlin, Germany, from August 18-22, 2008 to consider how the Christian community might express genuine love for the Jewish people, especially in Europe. Participants included Christians from Germany and Messianic Jews. The result was the following “Berlin Declaration.”

1. Love is not Silent: The Need for Repentance

We deeply regret the all too frequent persecution of Jewish people in Jesus’ name. We do not for a second deny the evil it represents. During the genocide of the Holocaust, when the Jewish people were in their greatest peril, most Christian believers were silent. Many, such as The Stuttgart Confession of Guilt right after World War II, have apologized for the failure to speak out and for not doing more to demonstrate genuine Christian love to the Jewish people. Some of our brothers and sisters in the European Christian community suffered as well for resisting the anti-Semites and perpetrators of the atrocities. Many more today feel embarrassment and shame for the general failure to protest. As a result, there is an evident insecurity about relations with Jewish people. Also, there is a tendency to replace direct gospel outreach with Jewish-Christian dialogue.We believe that genuine love cannot be passive. Jesus taught that authentic love could not be unfeeling when other human beings are in misery and need. Honest love must include an expression of Christ’s good news in word and deed. Therefore, Christians everywhere must not look away when Jewish people have the same deep need for forgiveness of sin and true shalom, as do people of all nations. Love in action compels all Christians to share the gospel with people everywhere, including the Jewish people of Europe.

2. Beyond Genocide: The Problem of Sin

We acknowledge within the sad record of European Christian history the “teaching of contempt,” intolerance toward Jewish people and Judaism, abhorrent acts of coercion, anti-Semitism in attitude, word and deed. The historical events of the Holocaust developed within a climate of anti-Semitism. The German Evangelical Alliance out of concern for that history has expressed shame and responsibility for Christian silence and too few attempts to stop the horror.

Jewish people interpret Christian failure to speak out as complicity in their genocide during World War II. However, there were some valiant Christians who did speak up, risking and sometimes losing their own lives to save Jews.

In light of rising European anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism vigilance is necessary now. Jewish people are not the only victims of genocide as evidenced today. The Holocaust survivor, Primo Levi, warned, “It has happened. Therefore, it can happen again.” The source of all genocide is sin. This sin affects all humanity, both the persecutor and the sufferer. God’s response to sin is the gospel. Therefore, this grace must be proclaimed to every human being.

3. The Solution for Sin: The Uniqueness of Christ

We recognize that genocide illustrates the enormity of sin. God is not responsible for genocide; we humans are. God has provided the solution.

It is often seen as unacceptable to challenge another’s religious views. Nevertheless, we regard failure to share the gospel as ignoring the problem of sin. No one should ignore Jesus’ assessment of human sin. Everyone needs what God offers by his grace: forgiveness of sin and a transforming divine presence in those who respond. Jesus did not seek to dominate, but gave himself on the cross as sacrifice for sin. His death cleanses from the guilt of sin and provides a new relationship with God. This benefit is neither earned nor entered into by birth. It is received through acknowledging our deep need for God to supply what we lack.

Confessing Jesus as Messiah affirms Jesus’ uniqueness as a person, especially to Jews, because Messiah (or Christ) is a Jewish concept. He is sent as the Word, anointed as Messiah and vindicated by God to sit at his right hand. Through resurrection Jesus shares in the divine glory, task, and authority. Jesus of Nazareth is more than a prophet or a religious teacher. Rather, he is the unique Son of God, mediating and administering God’s promise. By his divine authority, Jesus extends his offer to all. He exercises the divine prerogatives of forgiving sin and receiving worship. This is why we confess Jesus as both human and divine.

God calls believers to take the gospel to the world. Everyone needs to hear this message including the Jewish people. Proclamation to Israel was Jesus’ priority. It also reflects the apostles’ practice of going to the Jew first. Nothing has occurred since Jesus came that changes the need for Israel and the nations.

4. The Call to Action: Jewish Evangelism

Christians are called to share this good news, with sensitivity and humility. Witness to the gospel should be motivated by heart-felt love and expressed in practical ways. So, we stand in solidarity with the Jewish people, opposing anti-Semitism, prejudice and discrimination. This sinful behavior is irreconcilable with the calling of Christ’s disciples.

Most of all, we invite Jewish people and all others to consider the claims of Jesus. We share this gospel with Israel and all nations, not as an attack on the integrity of others. We uphold everyone’s right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and an open forum for all. While respecting the views of others, we still challenge them to consider the message of the Messiah.

Christians have much to learn from the Jewish people. We recognize our need to hear Jewish concerns. We affirm the importance of dialogue in promoting mutual understanding and sympathy. Dialogue provides an opportunity to share deeply held beliefs in a context of mutual respect. Dialogue and evangelism are not mutually exclusive. We reject the notion that evangelism is deceptive in claiming that Jews can believe in Jesus. We also reject the accusation that evangelism is the equivalent of spiritual genocide. We affirm the right of Jewish believers in Jesus to practice those traditions that affirm their identity, reflect God’s faithfulness to his people and uphold the Messiahship of Jesus.

We recognize the important role of Messianic Jews in the work and witness of the Church. Their special contribution gives testimony to the Jewish origins of Christianity and brings understanding of our Jewish roots. They remind us of the Jewishness of Jesus and of the first Christians. They also point to the fulfillment of God’s promises to save his people. We encourage them to stand firm in their identification with and faithful witness to their people. The Lord is also glorified in the visible demonstration of reconciliation of Jew and German in the body of Christ.

The Next Step

Therefore, as Christians concerned for the well being and salvation of the Jewish people, we call for:

* Respect for religious conviction and liberty that allows frank discussion of religious claims
* Repentance from all expressions of anti-Semitism and all other forms of genocide, prejudice and discrimination
* Recognition of the uniqueness of Christ as the crucified, resurrected and divine Messiah who alone can save from death and bring eternal life
* Reconciliation and unity amongst believers in Jesus

* Renewed commitment to the task of Jewish evangelism

This statement was developed by a World Evangelical Alliance Task Force meeting on the Uniqueness of Christ and Jewish Evangelism in Berlin, Germany. It was adopted August 22, 2008. Participants included Henri Blocher (France), Michael L. Brown (USA), Darrell Bock (USA), David Dowdey (USA), Richard Harvey (UK), Rolf Hille (Germany), Kai Kjær-Hansen (Denmark), Michael McDuffee (USA), David Parker (Chair, Australia), Eckhard Schnabel (Germany/USA), Berthold Schwarz (Germany), Bodil Skjøtt (Denmark), and Tuvya Zaretsky (USA). For further information, see http://www.worldevangelicals.org/news/view.htm?id=2025 and http://www.baptisttimes.co.uk/news3.htm. See also the translations of the “Berlin Declaration” into German and Russian.