When I was a college student, the Messiah of Israel found me, though most believers like to say we found Him.  I really was “minding my own business” when He began to draw me into His magnificent kingdom, the Kingdom of God, on the same day the Yom Kippur War began in 1973.  Five weeks later I received Him–I was alone when the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit of God, revealed the truth and love of Messiah, my need for forgiveness, and His provision of atonement.  After I prayed, I literally felt unseen chains break off.  I was free.

I learned there were 400 believers on our campus of 15,000.  There I met a fellow believer named Mike B.

Fast forward thirty years. My husband and I moved to another state.  A neighbor across the street invited us to his fellowship.

While looking at the announcements in the bulletin I noticed that the speaker for the evening was a man named Mike B.  Same name.  Could it be the same person? I didn’t remember Mike as being the “type” to be serving in some far off place.

We returned early that evening to see if it was Mike.  Sure enough, twenty eight years after having last seen him, there he was.  He had served the LORD in Africa and was now in Eastern Europe.

Mike had a hard time recognizing me in my salt and pepper hair!  But we hugged and rejoiced at the miracle that had just taken place.  Neither of us had ever been in that fellowship before, as I had moved to that state the week before, and he had been living in Africa and then Eastern Europe over the past twenty five years.  He had just gotten back to the States  a week or so before, and this was a speaking engagement that had been arranged for him.

We marveled at the encouragement the LORD us–that He has directed every step of our lives, and knows the times and the seasons of our lives.

I met his dynamic wife, Kathy, and asked her to tell me about the transition to Eastern Europe…to the same country and city where my grandmother was from!

“The ground is really hard there.  It’s a predominantly Catholic country.”

She spoke of the profound hardness of heart that she and Mike encountered there to spiritual things.  This is not difficult to understand.  World War II ravaged the entire continent.  The suffering was unspeakable. Volumes have been written on the subject.

I had a thought…should I tell Kathy why there might possibly be hard hearts or resistance to spiritual things?  Or, would it be interpreted as self serving?

I knew I had to speak.  “You know, Kathy, during the war, a large majority of the people of that country strongly participated in helping the Nazis destroy its Jewish population.  There is a covenant in Scripture, the Abrahamic Covenant. (Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 17)  Here, the LORD promised the Patriarch Abraham three things:  Land, seed, and blessing.  He also stated that “I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you.”  This covenant and promise was reaffirmed to Isaac in Genesis 26; to Jacob in Genesis chapter 28:13-15; 35:9-12; 48:3-4.  Numbers chapter 24:1-9 is very clear:  “Blessed is everyone who blesses you (Israel), and cursed is everyone who curses you (Israel).”

“I am wondering, Kathy, if the way to have softened ground in the country where you are laboring is to join the other believers in confessing the very serious sin of anti-Semitism that led to hundreds of thousands of Jewish deaths.  Innocent blood has been shed in that land…the innocent blood of God’s covenant people is on the soil and on the hands of their ancestors.  Perhaps there is a curse on the land spoken of in Genesis 12.  In addition, the sin of hatred that generations of people in that country have participated in has opened a big door to the enemy of their souls:  Satan.  The people are indeed in bondage.

Kathy listened.  Kathy agreed.  She left to join her husband.

Then it was time for Mike to give the message.  I was amazed.  He had changed the talk he had planned to give, to one that would address what I had shared with Kathy.  He requested prayer for the nation where he was serving…for a spirit of repentance to be granted for the sins that nation committed against the Jews during WWII.

Reader, does it sound strange that the sins of ancestors can have such an impact a generation or two later?

It is not strange, for the Scripture speaks of the principle of curses going to the third and fourth generation (Deuteronomy 5:9), and the blessing of lovingkindness going to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 5:10) to those who love Yahweh (The LORD) and keep His commandments.

One of His commandments is to bless, and not curse Israel!

So, what can we get from this true encounter?

1. The Living God, the God of Israel, is in the business of doing wondrous things.  He literally directs steps/paths of those who seek Him.  It is thrilling to be led by the LORD.
2. When hearts are closed to spiritual things we can’t prejudge and just say, “Oh, they’re not open to Biblical truth.” Such people need us to be the intercessors to help “break up fallow ground” (Hosea 10:12), confessing the sins of a nation or city or people group, so other prayers can be heard on high.  Please note that Daniel, Nehemiah, Ezra, Isaiah all cried unto God, saying, “I have sinned, and my fathers/people have sinned.”  No one exists alone spiritually.  Sin in our lives affects others, including a nation’s destiny.
3. Anti-Semitism is not just a current topic with political implications.  The spiritual ramifications for hating the Jewish people are borne out in history–in nations, as well as, in individual lives.

Dare I ask if you come from a heritage of hate, a heritage of specifically hating the Jewish people?  If so, confess the sins of your ancestors and any residual anti-Semitism that may exist in your heart.  This may be a key to possible breakthrough in your own life.

Shalom!

Some twenty years ago while on business in a rural area, we passed a honey farm.  It was about 4:45 in the afternoon.  The owner said he was closing in fifteen minutes.  We got into a nice conversation, having learned that we attended the same university years before.

Ten minutes into the conversation, an orthodox Jewish man and his wife walked onto the farm.  I could not tell from his clothes if he was Orthodox or Hasidic.  He looked at me.  There I was in short sleeves and slacks.  Normally Hasidic men do not speak with women (other than those in their families), let alone one that is not “appropriately” dressed in a long skirt/dress and long sleeves.  Summoning the courage to speak with him, I asked: “Are you Orthodox or Hasidic?”.  He said, “Hasidic.”  I told him that my ancestors were Hasidic and mentioned the family name.  He said, “I just completed the artistic genealogy of that family name!”  “But, beside being an artist, I am also a rabbi”, he added.

Sensing I was in a “divine appointment” with a Hasidic rabbi in the middle of nowhere, I asked what he thought about Messiah.

“Messiah will come in on a white donkey,” he said firmly.  He then added, “But, we do not know when He will come.”

Tears came to my eyes.  The rabbi thought I was in need of his counsel.  I was overcome with emotion because I saw how my steps had been directed in the middle of nowhere to this rabbi, who under normal circumstances, might never have had the chance to hear about the love of God through Messiah Yeshua.

Through my tears I said, “Rabbi, Messiah has come.  His name is Yeshua.”  I then offered the English translation (Jesus), so he did not think I was speaking about a Messiah named “Joshua”.  (Please note that the names Joshua, Hosea and Isaiah all come from the same Hebrew root, and have the meaning “salvation” or “Yah saves”.  Incidentally, when I was growing up, I thought Jesus was his first name, Christ was his last name, and Mr. and Mrs. Christ had a son, Jesus.  ”Christ” is actually the anglicized form of the Greek “Christos”, which means “anointed one”.  This is translated from the Hebrew word for Messiah, “Mashiach”.  In another post I will discuss how Yeshua of Nazareth was so far removed from his Jewish roots after the first century, that many Jewish people could not recognize or embrace Him as one of their own.)

The rabbi was a little taken aback, but was not hostile.  I asked him, “How would you recognize the Messiah when He came?”  Are you aware that there are many prophetic clues in the Hebrew Scriptures that identify Messiah.  For instance, the Hebrew prophet, Micah, (who prophesied in the 700s BC (BCE))(chapter 5 verse 1 (Hebrew Bible; vs. 2 in other translations)) states the where of Messiah’s birth: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from ancient days (literally, ‘eternity’–Hebrew word is “Olam”). The ruler of Israel, was said to be from eternity, and yet was to come out of Bethlehem.  It’s common knowledge that Yeshua was born in Bethlehem.  The Hebrew prophet, Daniel, (chapter 9 verses 24 -27) states the when of Messiah’s coming:  Messiah will be cut off, and then the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed. (summary)  The city is Jerusalem; the sanctuary is the Temple.  Both were destroyed in 70 AD (CE) by the Roman Titus.  Messiah thus had to be “cut off” before 70 AD (CE).  Yeshua was “cut off” in 33 AD (CE).

Back to the story…We spoke for a half hour.  I was able to distill down the main difference between a Messianic Jewish believer in Yeshua, and a Hasid or Orthodox Jew who did not acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah.  “Basically,” I said, “it breaks down to two things:”

1. I KNOW I have the blood atonement (I know my sins are forgiven and on Yom Kippur every year I don’t have to hope that God forgives me for I have been forgiven completely and forever when I trusted Messiah’s atoning work on my behalf when he was led like a lamb to the slaughter 2000 years ago and died for me, “the Just for the unjust to bring me to God.”) 
2. I also KNOW I have the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit of God, living in me. This gift of the Holy Spirit was imparted when thirty five years ago I came into a personal relationship with Yeshua as my Savior and Messiah.

While acknowledging our differences, he then shared what had happened earlier that day:  “My wife took a nap in the afternoon.  About a quarter to five she awakened and insisted we go to the honey farm.  For sixteen years, every summer, we stay at a (Hasidic) camp next door to this farm. In all those years, we have never been to this farm before!”  I replied, “I know that happened because the G-d of Israel loves you and wanted you to hear about Messiah.”  He answered, “Maybe it was to bring you back to Judaism.”  I said, “On the contrary, I know whom I believe…I didn’t find a religion but a person.”

Seven years later I searched and located him.  I sent him one of my Prophetic Regathering of Israel lithographs and a Jeremiah 31 print (these can be seen in our gallery on this site). The latter print contains the words, “Behold, days come saith the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which, my covenant, they broke.  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel:  After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law within them, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for they shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest; for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:31-34 Jewish Publication Society translation.)  Clearly, the basis of “knowing” the LORD is to have the problem of personal sin dealt with.  The basis of forgiveness is through faith in the atonement provided through the death of Messiah Yeshua.

He responded by sending me a six page letter filled with hostility.  Most of it was not against me personally, but directed against the New Testament and people who believe in that book.  This is not hard to understand.  Please note that the Hasidic Jews have suffered greatly over the past few centuries, with whole populations wiped out in Europe during pogroms and the Holocaust.  Clearly this rabbi grouped the perpetrators of the crimes against our people, who claimed to be “Christians”, with the New Testament.  He never read that Yeshua wept over the Jewish people, as did Rav Shaul (also known as the Apostle Paul) who said “I am telling the truth in Messiah, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit), that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Messiah for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs 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.”  (Romans 9:1-3)

Readers, I share the same grief.  Pray for the Jewish people, and all people everywhere, to find peace and healing through Messiah.