Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

This week I was reminded of this truth when I opened my latest copy of Christianity Today and saw the interview of Gary Scott Smith in the article ”Commander and Chaplain” about the faith of our presidents.  When asked the question about which president’s faith most impacted his policy.  Harry Truman was near the head of the list and for one specific decision — the choice for America to be the first nation to recognize Israel in May 1948.

As I began a quick internet search, I found a 2008 article from Christian History in which we find that Truman’s Baptist faith and teaching led him to see himself as a modern-day realization of the Persian king Cyrus who allowed the Jewish people from the Babylon exile period to return home in 539 BCE.  He was instrumental in validating the existence of Israel in 1948 and the chief rabbi of Israel, Halevi Herzog, said these words to him when they met in 1949 …

When the President was still in his mother’s womb, the Lord had bestowed upon him the mission of helping his Chosen People at a time of despair and aiding in the fulfillment of His promise of Return to the Holy Land. (http://www.tnr.com/article/world/the-truman-no-show)

We definitely need a men and women like Harry Truman again on the political stage.  We also need men and woman who will take on the responsibility of becoming spiritual Harry Truman’s and bring the truth of Messiah Jesus to the Jewish souls around the world.  Too often, and simply because I think it is easy, we as evangelical Christians have become “friends of Israel” merely in the political realm.  We will back Israel on an international level.  We will sign petitions.  We will wear pins with an American and Israeli flag intertwined.  We will send donations to a certain “pastor” in San Antonio to defend Israel.  We will even embrace the term “Christian Zionism”; however, we fail in the most basic and important concept of what it means to be the next Harry Truman — we fail to share the truth of Messiah Jesus with the Chosen Ones of God and the people from whom our Jesus came.

I will vote politically for the candidate, whomever that might be, who will do what is Biblically commanded concerning Israel.  However, I wonder who will join me in seeking to be the next Harry Truman on the spiritual level.  Who will join with Tzedakah Ministries and seek to live out 2012 with the mantra of

Hanukkah tells the story of how the priestly family known as the Maccabees overcame the evil machinations of Antiochus Epiphanes and cleansed the Temple of his attempts to establish worship to himself (sound like Daniel 7 and double fulfillment?).

However, the real, fulfillment story of Hanukkah occurred about 200 years after the 168 BCE rebellion.  The real story of Hanukkah finalizes in John 10:22-31 as a carpenter’s son from Nazareth strolls through the Temple porches until he is stopped by a crowd who are wanting to ask him one simple question …

Are you the Messiah?

 Jesus’ answered them with a response that was beyond their wildest expectations …

I and my Father are one.

For you see, the crowd was wanting a physical Messiah who would release them from Roman oppression.  Jesus was offering them eternal and spiritual deliverance from the true enemy … Satan himself.

The real story of Hanukkah is realized by seeing that Jesus is both Messiah and God himself.  The real story of Hanukkah is finalized when Messiah Jesus took on the role of the Messiah ben Joseph concept in order that one day He could return as Messiah ben David.  The real story of Hanukkah is completed when physical, spiritual and eternal deliverance is seen through the light of the world  — Jesus the Messiah — who came to bright light and hope and eternity to the whole world … but first to His Chosen Ones, the nation of Israel.

“Well, God, he is ten today.  Who would have guessed ten years ago when he was born in a cave in Bethlehem that he would grow into such a fine boy?  For God, he is a fine boy and a good child … even a perfect one.

Thank you for Him — but his perfection creates inside of me a sense of confusion over how to be a father to someone who is perfect.  How do I show Him how to be a carpenter, a Jew, a man, when I know down deep in my heart He was here long before anything around us ever was?

How do I teach him the Torah when he was the one who told Jeremiah and Zechariah what to write in the first place?  How do I prepare him for his bar Mitzvah?  How do I show him the meaning of the Passover when he was the one who forced Pharoah to let the Jewish people go?  How do I father a boy whom I probably should be worshipping before this very moment?

I cannot explain my feelings to Mary as she will only get this far away look in her eyes and speak of things hiding in her heart.  I am envious of the relationship you and her have because she seems to have a peace about all the things surrounding his birth … a peace which I cannot seem to find.

She stood up to the snide remarks about his parentage, but I get angry when someone mentions that he looks nothing like me.  God,  I love him, but I don’t even know who he is.  Occasionally, I will catch myself looking for some piece of me in his face.  I look at his eyes, his mouth, his feet for something of me … but there is never anything there.

God, why did you pick us?  What was so important about a carpenter and a 14-year old Jewish girl who were stuck in the backwater town of Nazareth?  Why would you choose us to have your son?  Why us?  Why not a rabbi, why not Zecharias and Elisabeth?  Why not anyone else?

God, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I don’t see the end the reasons behind your plan.  It’s hard being the father to the Messiah and knowing He isn’t really mine in the first place.  With James and the boys and even with the girls, it is easier because they are truly mine.

Father, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.  I just don’t understand the emotions which spring up from a place inside of me that I never knew existed.  I don’t understand how Mary conceived as a virgin.  I don’t understand the visit of those wise men from the East.  I don’t know why we had to run to Egypt for those long lonely months.

But, ultimately, I don’t understand how when I pray to you, I know I am praying to the little boy playing in the next room.  Help me, God.

(Reprinted with permission and edited slightly from the author’s former column “Storm Shelters” in the Baptist Progress — December 17, 1997)

I have been told that it works.  And I will take their word for it because even while I am technologically savvy … I am cheap and don’t want to spend money on a phone!

So … is this “rorschach” splodge a fad or something that will be around for a while?  Can this “new-fangled” thing be useful for more than just advertising acne cream?  Ultimately, how can this tool be used for missions and evangelism … specifically Jewish missions and evangelism?

I asked this question to several of Tzedakah Ministries’ friends and I thought a sampling of their answers might prove interesting …

If, and only if, I am forced to get into techonology, I will get into it. I always wondered how the whole world was going to observe the two dead prophets, and now everybody has an Iapple or a blackberry. I am sure if your targeted audience will favor you on QCR or another advanced technology, you shall enter it, by all means! — Maria

What is QCR? — Frank

Hmmm would there be a demand for it? — Karen

One of the marks of the beast in Revelations — Anonymous

Well … and obviously … the last response did indeed get my attention.  Therefore, I went to the “repository of evil” (sarcasm noted) also known as the internet and did a quick search.  And there are those out there who believe this could very well be a opening of the door for the Mark of the Beast of Revelation 13 (see below the posting).

Therefore, I have a follow-up question for you — is it good, allowable, profitable to use what might or might not be a tool of Satan as a means for sharing the Gospel of Messiah Jesus with a technologically driven world?  One answer might be found in the words a friend of mine from Jews for Jesus told me a few months ago that the “splodge” they used on the back of their t-shirts had driven over a half a million people to their website!  Truly, God only knows how many of that 500,000 read enough to have the Gospel presented to them.  Even if the answer is only one … it would have been worth it all.

So my answer is the same as my dad’s message that is over a decade old.  We must never change the message of the Gospel but we must always examine the world to see if we need to change the method we use to make the Gospel available and relevant.

However, I promise you that I will never get the Quick Response Code above tattooed anywhere on my body!  Shalom.

On September 20, hundreds and thousands of Jews and Muslims will pass through the gates of eternity without a personal relationship with Jesus because we as Christians and churches have forgotten the mandate of Romans 1:16 as well as the need for the other sons of Abraham (via Ishmael and the offspring from Keturah) to know that Jesus is their Messiah as well.  So again I ask … what will the world look like after September 21?

Because many in Christendom and the world of Christian Zionism will fixate on a vote in the United Nations and not realize that a vote of man cannot change the intentions and plans of God.  However, if we fail to fixate on evangelism we could change someone’s eternity.  So again, and for the final time on this post, I ask … what will the world look like after September 21?

And while I would never put myself in the position of those who were in the buildings, those who lost friends and family from the tragedy, or the first responders who battled so bravely — many at the expense of their own lives (or those I refer to as the first and second levels of “Ground Zero Reality”), I have a unique perspective on that day because I was in Manhattan on September 11th and the picture above was one I took in July of 2001 while on an tour boat outing with friends.

I remember the shock.  I remember the surreal nature of that day.  I remember the phone calls I had with my mom and brother-in-law before the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.  Phone calls, confirming our love for one another, that no one should ever have to experience because we didn’t know then which building or city was next (i.e., I was about 6 blocks from the United Nations complex).  I remember watching the buildings fall in a state of confusion and almost as if I was disconnected from the horrors taking place about 4 miles from where I sat.  I remember the email I sent out soon after the collapse to inform my friends that I was okay.  I remember the flurry of responses from those friends who said they were holding their breath until they received my email (thank you Dr. Garrett, Wendy, Tammy, Dennis, Laverne, Lisa, and many, many others for your love that day).  I remember the email from Tammy B. who informed me that the Baptist denomination of my childhood had me listed as missing and presumed dead on their website.  I remember the email sent to Paul G. informing him as Mark Twain once wrote that the rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated.  I remember the ordeal of trying to get home that night.  I remember the shocked faces of once jaded New Yorkers who were trying to cope with the reality that life would never be the same.

I remember having the opportunity to share, finally, the Gospel of Jesus with my upstairs neighbor Laura who was Jewish on one side and Catholic on the other side of the family.  I still remember exactly her words as we walked around the block of our Queens neighborhood — “You are a Christian, explain today!”  I remember our conversation about the reality of evil and the need for everyone to have God/Jesus in their hearts and lives.  I remember it all … as if it was yesterday and not ten years ago.

I also remember how for a few weeks the churches were crowded with people looking for answers.  However, they soon drifted away because we as believers in Jesus seemingly failed to provide answers to their heart problems.  I remember how we as a nation turned from Jesus to the well-meaning but ultimately temporary emotions of patriotism.  Please, do not misunderstand me as I am proud of my American heritage and the privilege I have to be a citizen of this country.  However, patriotism is not the answer to the eternal questions raised by 9/11.

The answer lies in as I told Laura … Jesus.  Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda took away our false sense of security in the span of a few minutes.  Jesus the Messiah of all nations and people is the only one who can give us true security, true hope, and true eternity.

This month’s edition of Christianity Today asked several major Christian leaders about what they learned and are still learning as a result of that fateful day.  The response which most resonated with my heart was the one given by Harry Jackson of the International Communion of Evangelical Churches who wrote …

What was missing? First, local church revivals could have begun, marked by deep repentance and personal piety, prayer, and devotion to the Scriptures. Second, a national spiritual awakening could have broken out. Third, a prophetically motivated clergy and leadership could have truly become the nation’s spiritual shepherds by “speaking truth to power….  Awareness of a missed opportunity during the weeks following 9/11 empowered us to more fully embrace future opportunities.

Harry Jackson is correct.  We did miss evangelism and mission (especially Jewish missions/evangelism) in the days and weeks after 9/11.  We as churches and Christians “dropped the ball” and we now must pick it up and do something on this tenth anniversary of a horrible day to make the unexplainable horror understandable.

My dad died a year earlier on July 4, 2000.  The grief of losing my dad so suddenly left me bereft of emotions on 9/11.  I operated for months and even years as a robot going through the motions but not allowing myself to “feel” my own pain of 9/11.  I finally fell apart in the Waxahachie movie theater as I wept through the entire movie of World Trade Center with Nicholas Cage.  The moments after the movie while I am still sobbing was lightened by my mom as she stood at the end of the aisle to announce — “She was there in New York on 9/11″ — to the entire audience.  I have found myself over the last few days and weeks breaking down into tears as the flood of emotions rush upon me.  Tzedakah Ministries also finds itself dedicated to fulfilling a comment I made on twitter at @ElijahsWitnesses which simply says …

Sunday is the anniversary of a tragic moment. What would be even more tragic is if Christians use this day for patriotism and not evangelism.

John Hagee once said in his first edition of In Defense of Israel that Jesus never claimed to be Messiah and therefore the Jewish people were not going to be held spiritually accountable for not believing in Him (click here for a YouTube video of John Hagee purporting this view).  He attempted to smooth ruffled evangelical feathers in his second edition and not be so blatant of his Two Covenant or Dual Covenant theological leanings (see here).

So … the ultimate question is what did Jesus say about Himself?  We can examine John 14:6 and the world has multiple times; however, I discovered for myself a verse that is often overlooked in the defense of Jesus’ deity and divinity questions — John 8:24.  The text in Greek (there are only minute if any differences from the Westcott-Hort to the Textus Receptus to other texts on this passages) is found above.  I am going to cite the verse below using the King James Version for expediency’s sake:

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

The section in red and underlined in Greek and in the KJV is key to this passage.  The “he” in the KJV is understood because it is the Greek which defines this passage.  The transliterated is ”ego eimi” which if translated literally would be seen as “I I am”.  Most commentators agree that this passage is a reference back to Exodus 3 when Moses asks God for His name.  The answer “I am that I am”.

Therefore, we see one basic truth.  Jesus proclaimed Himself to be God.  He knew Himself to be God.  He affirmed that denying the truth of His divinity and deity would seal a person in their sins after death.  Jesus could not have been more plainer; however, He spells out again later in the passage when he declared — “Before Abraham was, I am (8:58).”

As a card-carrying evangelical Christian, I believe this truth.  I devote myself to this truth.  I live by this truth.  Do you?  If so, what are you doing about Jewish missions and evangelism?

Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism

High Leigh Conference Centre

7 – 12 August 2011

“Messiah Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

The ninth international conference of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE) met in Hoddesdon, England, 7 – 12 August, 2011. One hundred eighty people from six continents met together in the unity of the Holy Spirit as Jewish and gentile believers in Jesus. The conference theme was Mission and Jewish Evangelism – Always and Everywhere.

Meetings were held at the High Leigh Conference Centre where eighty years ago this July a like-minded group met as the International Hebrew Christian Alliance. The theme of their 1931 meeting was “Arise and Shine for Thy Light Has Come.” The words of their president, Sir Leon Levison, spoken at that IHCA conference, affirmed their hope in the gospel of salvation for Jewish people everywhere in their day. He said, “It was the Son of God who became the Son of Man, so that the sons of men might become the sons of God.”

Like that earlier conference, we take up the word of God to offer the following message to Jewish people, congregations of Jesus’ followers and all who are concerned with Jewish evangelism. “Messiah Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

To the Jewish people:

We condemn the reemergence of anti-Semitism and prejudice against the State of Israel.  We abhor every manner of thought or behaviour, which aims to threaten the survival of Jewish people. At the same time, individual Jewish people and the Jewish state bear equivalent responsibility to love their neighbour, promote religious freedom and pursue justice for all peoples.  Nonetheless, we trust God for his faithful and loving care for his covenant people.

We rejoice in reports of continued numerical and spiritual growth of Jewish believers in Jesus. We recognize that in Messiah Jesus (Yeshua) is the only hope of forgiveness forsin and eternal life for all who believe.

We implore you to consider redemption as it has come in Jesus of Nazareth. He is the promised divine Messiah and the final atonement for sin. In him is the light of revelation to the nations and your glory, O Israel.

“Messiah Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

To the congregations of Jesus’ followers:

As the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, we declare our deep appreciation to the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization for producing the 2010 Cape Town Commitment, and in particular Part IIB, Section 1A.  In a biblical context of reconciliation, it calls upon the whole church “to share the good news of Jesus as Messiah, Lord and Saviour with Jewish people.” Therefore, we unite our hearts with the global Lausanne Movement in affirming this document and especially this section of the Cape Town Commitment that reads:

Reconciliation to God is inseparable from reconciliation to one another. Christ, who is our peace, made peace through the cross, and preached peace to the divided world of Jew and Gentile. The unity of the people of God is both a fact (‘he made the two one’), and a mandate (‘make every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’). God’s plan for the integration of the whole creation in Christ is modelled in the ethnic reconciliation of God’s new humanity. Such is the power of the gospel as promised to Abraham (Ephesians 1:10; 2:1-16; 3:6; Galatians 3:6-8).

We affirm that whereas the Jewish people were not strangers to the covenants and promises of God, in the way that Paul describes the Gentiles, they still stand in need of reconciliation to God through the Messiah Jesus. There is no difference, said Paul, between Jew and Gentile in sin; neither is there any difference in salvation. Only in and through the cross can both have access to God the Father through the one Spirit (Ephesians 2:11-22; Romans 3:23; Romans 10:12-13; Ephesians 2:18).

To this we can say, “Yes” and “Amen.” We urge all to pray God’s mercy and grace upon suffering and persecuted people, including those of the Arab world. We invite congregations of Jesus’ followers to study the Cape Town Commitment and make plans to act upon it. Our members stand ready as partners to serve the Lord with you in reaching Jewish people for Jesus – always and everywhere.

“Messiah Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

To all concerned with Jewish evangelism:

We are dismayed by any reluctance among Christians to share the gospel with Jewish people, since “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Likewise, we deplore the teaching of “Two Covenant Theology,” which negates the necessity of the gospel for Jewish people and hinders Jewish evangelism. We ask Christians to recognize the negative impact of these views upon their responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission, which is Jesus’ command that his followers take the gospel to all nations.

We rejoice in the power of the gospel that enables Messianic Jews and Arab believers in Jesus to find reconciliation in Christ. Therefore, we encourage the whole church always and everywhere to take the gospel “to the Jew first” and to all the nations.

It is vital that all who are concerned for the spiritual welfare of the Jewish people join us in the cause of Jewishevangelism.  We call upon the whole church to take the whole gospel to Jewish people always and everywhere.

“Messiah Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.”