By Mike Oppenheimer
Director of Let Us Reason Ministries

I was brought up Jewish, went to Shabbat quite faithfully each Friday and celebrated the holydays at the temple and with my family up until about 16 years old. Our family like many others, gathered together on the high holy days in observance. I attended Hebrew school twice a week and learned the language and eventually was Bar Mitzvahed (at 13) and confirmed (at 16). While attending classes, I asked a lot of questions about God that the Rabbi could not answer. Though I continued each year, mainly to please my parents, I became less interested in the traditional beliefs of my parents, and after graduation, feeling hindered in my spiritual development, I leaped headfirst into my own brand of freestyle spirituality.

Through my own search in reading and attending lectures and gatherings, I got involved in the New Age movement, became a vegetarian, and for over 15 years practiced Yoga and meditation. I ended up using psychedelic drugs for a time (LSD, mescaline, mushrooms etc.), as part of my regular spiritual quest along with smoking “pakalolo” (pot) that became part of my normal lifestyle. During these times, I also experimented with various religions and the occult. I felt they each contained some part of the truth of the one “true” religion, just as Rosicrucianism teaches that all religions are petals on the same flower.

I studied about the Ancient Masters of the East, and learning about Buddhism and Zen, I picked up on a number of the practices. I had spiritual experiences, which at the time I was sure were from God and leading me to a greater knowledge of myself and Him. I discovered and believed in the Ascended Masters that were guiding our world into a greater evolutionary path. I was involved with UFOs and channeled messages, sure I was on the right spiritual path because of the various signs and how things just fell into place. At the same time, I also read the Bible (even the New Testament), not denying my Jewish roots. I began reading over 50 books a year, having an insatiable spiritual appetite, but God was working on my exit out of this spiritual bondage.

I had also started to surf before beginning my spiritual pilgrimage. I fell in love with the sport and began traveling, surfing, and entering contests. Surfing became my livelihood after I learned to shape surfboards for a living. I became the NY champion for a number of years and eventually the eastern surfing champion twice. Hawaii proved to be an irresistible attraction due to its fantastic surf, thus I moved permanently to Hawaii with my girlfriend Kathy in the mid ’70s. This gave me more freedom to pursue both my first love of surfing and my freelance spirituality.

Kathy and I thought we were becoming enlightened reading books about the Ascended Masters involvement and “learning” about Earth’s past history on Lemuria and Atlantis. We desired to become servants of the New Age movement, convinced that if we all united we could usher in an age of spiritual cooperation and enlightenment that so many were talking about.

After nine years, my searching came to a head when Kathy and I started to pursue our spiritual hunger more seriously and became involved in the “I Am Movement” (the Saint Germaine Society of the Ballard’s). Through calling on angels and powers unknown to us and by “decreeing” and using the Violet Consuming Flame to eradicate past life karma, we were learning to become active in the New Age movement. At the time, Kathy was practicing affirmations, mantras, studying herbology, polarity therapy, kinesiology, and learning about the supposed spiritual energies of the body. She also was a manager of a health store on the Island of Oahu.

At the same time, the Lord started moving ahead with His rescue plan. During one week, we had two friends over to our house who were also surfers that I knew from New York; they had recently became Christians. We talked about end-time events for hours. Since I was familiar with this subject, as I had been reading the Bible for years, I was especially fascinated about the end of the age. (At that time Kathy and I both thought of Christians as very narrow minded about their view of the Bible, God, and the world. Kathy and I used to laugh about how the New Age was coming into the church without Christians even being aware of it and that the church was still trying to live in the old traditions and were not going to be part of it).

Later that week, my friends invited us to a seminar that just so happened to be on the New Age movement with speakers Dave Hunt, Johanna Michaelson, and Hal Lindsey. Talk about timing! It was during that same week I heard what seemed like an audible voice say, “I am the Lord your God, you shall not want.” I recognized this was from Psalm 23 from my Jewish upbringing and though I had numerous spiritual experiences, I had never experienced anything like this. Inside, I knew this was the God I was searching for but still did not know. It was only later I would understand why this voice was outside and not from inside me.

I attended the Christian conference on Bible prophecy and the New Age movement that week with my NY friends while Kathy stayed home doing her New Age affirmations. She wasn’t feeling well that day to go with me and unknowingly had really been going through a spiritual battle all that week. At the conference, I was shocked to hear the other side of the story, one I had never heard. The information I heard seemed incredible. The speakers knew all about the occult techniques Kathy and I were following and practicing, and about the New Age movement’s master plans.

During a break, I spoke to Dave Hunt briefly, and he answered a number of important questions I had. One was why Jesus said, “why have you forsaken me?” Though I was reading the Bible all these years, I could not understand the gospel contained in it. I was blinded by the viewpoints that were ingrained in me from the New Age influences. I was also challenged by Dave on the occult practices in which I was personally involved practicing. He was aware of the “I Am societies” practices. One question Dave asked me was, “If you’re God, did you create the universe?” I had never thought this through. If I’m trying to become God through all these New Age techniques, how could this be possible, when God was always all knowing and all powerful (according to the Scriptures and what I had heard through their speaking that night). It was through this question that a chain of events led the Lord to really minister the truth to my heart and mind.

When the conference resumed, Johanna spoke, and I was relating to a lot she had experienced, especially in regard to the Ascended Master “Jesus.” Then she spoke about another Jesus not being the true Jesus of the Bible, which came as a total shock. I never thought there could be false Jesus’ parading around as the real one. They were only Jesus by name but not the One who is God come in the flesh. It all  made sense. When she finished and prayed, my heart was pierced; I knew I had heard the truth, but the question was, what would I do about it?

All the way home I wrestled with the realization that I had wasted the past 15 years believing and doing the wrong things. (Prior to this, I thought Christians were very narrow minded but now I had to reconsider that I was too open-minded and had bought into a lie.) I asked my friends who took me to the meeting numerous questions that were running through my mind. Being new Christians, they could answer only a few of them. They just kept saying to me, “We know the Bible is God’s Word and Jesus is the truth.”

Kathy was waiting up for me when I got home. It was late, and she was actually scared that I would come home a Christian from the meeting! As I came in, a peace came in the house and on her; as I sat her down, I enthusiastically shared about how the Christians viewed the last days and how it wasn’t anything like what we were being taught in the New Age movement. It was then that the Holy Spirit revealed to Kathy that not only were we following the wrong Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4) but that we were following and worshiping Satan, and that he is a real being. Then the fear of God fell upon us, and for the first time, we got down on our knees and prayed to the true living God to forgive us for the occult beliefs we had been deceived into practicing. The Lord got the last laugh, but it was a pleasant one of victory.

The next morning I called my friend to pick us up—we wanted to go to church. He never moved so fast. Kathy and I went to this local Christian church, and the pastor got to the pulpit and said that he was told to change the sermon. He spoke on sin, Satan, and Jesus Christ, reaffirming what I heard the night before. We thought our friends had tipped him off, but it was the Lord. We heard the gospel explained, and we dedicated our lives to the Lord, repenting, and asking Christ to forgive us. Thank the Lord He intervened.

We were saved together in the year 1986. It was later that week I found out that it was on the 20th anniversary of my confirmation day when God spoke that previous week to me Psalm 23. The last thing I read in front of the congregation in the temple 20 years before had been Proverbs 4:1-2 “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.” Unfortunately, I did forsake His law for 20 years—but God brought me and my soon-to-be wife back. Five weeks after our spiritual birth, Kathy and I were married, and today have a son.

Immediately, I began to study the Bible in knowing Jesus and learning apologetics in order to give answers to those who ask why we believe in Christ and why Jesus is God in the flesh. Since 1988, I have continued teaching on the cults and aberrant world views including how the cults deny grace and opt for works to be accepted by God. These include the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, and also the occult (New Age world view) which is now very present inside the church.

In 1994, Let Us Reason Ministries was founded with my friend David-Alan Holland as an up-to-date apologetic resource center to instill both confidence and a desire to lead others to Christ. The Lord had provided us with the opportunity to host a TV program, and we had a live call-in broadcast called “Let Us Reason” on a local Christian station as well as being featured on several other live radio broadcasts in Hawaii. By the grace of God, I have had the privilege to have taught at Hope Chapels, Calvary Chapels, Church of Christ, Youth With A Mission, United Methodist Church, Grace Brethren, Assembly of God, and various other Hawaii congregations over the years. I have also had the opportunity to share in small group studies around the Island and have been involved in a number of debates.

I have learned many things along the way that need to be passed on to others to encourage as well as equip them in their witnessing. That is why we have focused on the Internet which reaches out worldwide, not just locally. It’s my hope that this ministry will be able to prompt believers to personally meet and evangelize people who are in cults and false religions as well as discern and call attention to false doctrine within the church.

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Mike Oppenheimer’s research site is www.letusreason.org and has extensive research and information. He is the author of several Lighthouse Trails articles, booklets, a book on the Trinity, and one of the authors of A Christian Perspective on the Social Justice Movement.

Mike also shares his testimony on his 2-part lecture DVD, The New Age Movement.

Are you sick of your children being subjected to incessant, inaccurate and dangerous messages enlisting their support for—or worse, their involvement in — homosexuality or gender deviance? And often now, this indoctrination will be interwoven with racism lessons, as if sexual immorality is similar.

Many schools allow or even celebrate these reckless, inaccurate messages on certain days and weeks during the academic calendar. Your children in class will usually have no choice except to endure rainbow posters, library displays, cafeteria tables, special speakers/ assemblies, classroom lessons and school announcements promoting the following events. See list below.

What can you do?

Click here to continue reading.

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(image from istockphoto.com; used with permission; design by LT)

Dear Lighthouse Trails editors and readers:

I was so happy with Life Church in the beginning and was so for years after my husband and I joined. I served on multiple platforms—online and at my local campus. I was in leadership positions and knee deep into Life Church culture. I was invited to multiple Global Leadership Conferences, to Life Church “All Staff” meetings, and campus LC leadership meetings. I was “all in” for Life Church as a respected attendee, volunteer, and leader.

What changed for me? About four years ago when Pastor Craig was out of town, he invited Joakim, the founding pastor at the largest church in Sweden to take the Life Church pulpit. He was a funny guy who told lots of stories and was very entertaining. But he was light on the Gospel and included few Scriptures. While sitting in the audience, I began to research this new speaker to see what he believed and who he was connected with. His website said he was part of the Bethel network of churches. Bethel and Hillsong are connected with the New Apostolic Reformation. Why was our pastor inviting this guy to take his pulpit?

Later, when Pastor invited his friends to take the pulpit for a four-week series titled “Book Club,” I began to research each one of these authors. His great friend was Steven Furtick from Elevation Church. He believes the Trinity is three different presences or forms. This teaching is a heresy known as modalism. So that meant that Jesus when He went into the clouds, didn’t leave, He just changed into the Holy Spirit. Then, our pastor had Robert Morris [the now fallen mega pastor] give a sermon on his new book, The Blessed Life. Morris teaches that if you don’t tithe, you allow demons into your life. The New Testament doesn’t teach tithing; it was instituted in the days after Israel was in the promised land to support the tribe of Levi.

Next, The Bible Project was inserted into the Life Group Leadership training. I was required to view their videos, and we discussed them at our leadership gatherings. As I watched the videos, while I saw the cartoons of the Bible Project as mostly OK, I saw theology that was not correct. Among other errors, Tim Mackie [the Bible Project’s co-creator] thinks penal substitutionary atonement stems from pagan sacrifice rituals. I filed that in my now-growing list of questionable things Life Church was supporting. Then Life Church began inviting Christine Caine to speak, and we were giving her non-profit money. Christine is listed as a Hillsong conference “Apostle” as was Pastor Craig. The problem is when Life Church has a guest speaker, attendees at church think that ministry and that speaker are endorsed by Life Church. The question is, were they?

Mike Todd of Transformation Church, another Book Club speaker, had a sermon based on his new book. Mike, a prosperity preacher, is a motivational speaker who was light on Scripture and heavy on stories about his church. There were other questionable speakers. Should people come to preach from their books or use God’s Word? Was church all about self-help for my life challenges, or was church supposed to be about exegeting from Scriptures? The questions kept coming. Did Pastor know what these friends of his were about? Did he endorse their theology? Did he know?

The Tipping Point
The tipping point came when John Mark Comer’s contemplative-advocating Practicing the Way was promoted as a way to experience Jesus in a deeper way. As a Life Group leader at Life Church online, I was invited to log onto to this website. I began immediately researching the author of this site and what he promoted. I found this was the gateway into learning contemplating prayer. As a reader of Lighthouse Trails, I knew that contemplative prayer was Christianized Eastern mysticism. I thought that this can’t be. But it was.

I had loved and read the YouVersion Bible app for many years. Now my research turned to the app. I had been reading these devotionals for years. Why had I missed what was now being promoted? I found Kenneth Copeland and Joyce Myers as well as many questionable authors who had devotionals listed. How had I missed this?

Now I turned my attention to Pastor Craig Groeschel and what I could find out about him. He came out of the Methodist Church as a young minister and got his degree from Phillips Theological Seminary (a school with a liberal bias). Pastor Craig founded Life Church with his young wife, Amy, in 1996 in a garage in Oklahoma. Life Church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church (a church group that supports gays and is a very “woke” denomination before woke became popular). Pastor Craig has preached a few woke sermons and is supportive of social justice. All this was just the tip of the iceberg!

I had to figure out what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t unknow what I now knew. As a prayer leader at Life Church online, I had promoted the YouVersion Bible app and sent that link to all new believers as well as to anyone who currently didn’t have the app. But now, how could I endorse the app that promotes and teaches contemplative prayer, Spiritual Formation, breath prayers, and much more? I continued to research and found nothing to convince me that I should stay. The more I prayed about what to do, and the more I sought counsel from friends outside of Life Church, the more I realized I had to leave. How could I support a church that was truly an emergent, mega church that was veering from God’s truth in so many ways.

I took my time as I thought about my future without a church home and all the friends I had made who still attended. I wanted to leave in a God-honoring way without anger or bitterness and with my friendships intact. I began to pray about how to leave gracefully. I felt that God was leading me on my journey, but it was my private journey. I felt I had no need to try to correct the leadership in Oklahoma or argue with my local pastors. I knew they thought they were right, so I left them for God to deal with them.
My plan became to, little by little, step down from each of the areas in which I was involved. I felt no need to try and pull others away from Life Church. As I stepped down, I just told the leadership that I felt God was leading me on a different journey. Honestly, I could say I didn’t know where this journey would lead me. But I knew I had to be faithful to follow God to where I don’t know.

In all this, I hold onto Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Marie

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(photo from istockphoto.com; used with permission; design by LT)

 

Dear Lighthouse Trails Editors:

Perhaps you are aware of the big, channeled The Urantia Book, which is akin to A Course in Miracles. Urantia is incredibly dangerous and demonic. While we know who A Course in Miracles was channeled through, there is no such information with Urantia.”  “Urantia” is blatantly (and frighteningly) one hundred percent not written or contrived by the human mind or imagination. It is pure evil from powerful entities in the unseen realm. It very possible could be “The Bible” the antichrist will use to deceive the nations into a “Unity” culminating into the one-world religion. What is horrifying to me is their work of translating this ungodly book into Hebrew!

Here is the link to the group and the man creating the “Ask Jesus AI”: https://www.thecenterforunity.org/about

Here is my personal story about this book, which took place back in the early 1980s in Everett, WA:

There was a retired Christian couple in Everett, WA who owned a Christian bookstore of sorts. They were friendly and kind, and had, as best as I can recall, spent a few years in ministry in Asia. In other words, I simply trusted them. As I approached the man to make my purchase, he looked at me and said, “There’s life on other planets you know.”

Amazed, I asked, “How did you know I wondered about that?”

He replied, “God told me.” That “bait” worked, and I was one hooked fish. Reaching under his desk, he pulled out a big, big book, and said, “This book tells you about that.” When I asked him who wrote it, he ran me around until the subject was dropped, I purchased it and couldn’t wait to get home and start reading it.

The book’s binding, print, paper, and format were very identical to a Bible. It was completely void of any credit to any human authors or writers. The mysterious nature of it and my natural curiosity kept me slowly reading it, but the more I read it, the more agitated and uneasy I felt. Within a week, I began to sense I was not alone in my house when I tried to read it and that I was being carefully watched. This escalated until I knew that about three very tall, powerful, “beings” were standing beside me; and that is when I flipped through that book to find where the Gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was and how it was presented. Thank God, the Holy Spirit revealed it for what it was. Urantia went into the garbage can and the evil beings left my house.

Do I believe that the Laodicean church of today will fall for the false “Jesus” portrayed in this book from? YES!!! We are in the day of the “falling away” because people, not having received a love for the truth, are being sent a strong delusion from God that they should believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2). Multitudes have already been conditioned by weak and pathetic “Christian” movies, such as The Chosen (and others) that are devoid of an understanding of the Gospel, the consequences of sin, worldliness, the need for true repentance, obedience, and holiness. The fact that millions of Christians purchased, read and loved that blasphemous book, The Shack should be evidence enough that the organized church is ready for major delusion.

God bless you,
Jeannette Haley
Gentle Shepherd Ministries
PO Box 3572
Oldtown, ID 83822

If you would like to discuss this issue with me, you may write to me at: email: artnbooks@gmail.com

Related Information:

The Urantia Book critique by Let Us Reason ministries.

 

photo: Philip Zodhiates, Associated Press; ©2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved; used with permission.

LTRP Note: This week, we received an update from Philip Zodhiates (the man who helped a former lesbian (Lisa Miller) and her daughter Isabella), who spent over two years in Federal prison, and who is being brought to civil trial in Vermont by the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you haven’t read Philip’s new book, Innocent, we encourage you to do so. The book is like a handbook on preparing for persecution. For those who would like to help support Philip, please visit 419Fund.com. To see other articles we have posted in this matter, click here.

Dear readers at Lighthouse Trails:

As I sat through days of grueling court-ordered sworn testimony in preparation for the civil trial this coming fall, there was left no doubt in my mind:  Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is determined to dismiss and cover up the court-mandated sexual abuse which scarred young Isabella Miller for life. 

Covering up Isabella’s abuse is what the other side did in previous court battles, and barring a miracle and intense public pressure, is what the SPLC will attempt to get the judge to do in the civil trial against me.

What’s more, the fact that SPLC’s goal is to legitimize sexual access to children [see Philip’s previous report] was confirmed in recent weeks when they added the homosexual group “Gays Against Groomers” to their infamous “hate list.” 

You see, “Gays Against Groomers” is an organization of homosexuals and lesbians who, not unlike you and me, oppose the sexual grooming of children, seeking to stop the forced mutilation and sexual abuse of children under the guise of “gay rights.”  For this SPLC is calling them a “hate group.”  SPLC is aiding  “minor attracted persons” (MAPS) to gain unfettered sexual access to our children and grandchildren – and we’ll be able to do nothing legally to stop them!

To me the saddest thing is that few in the media (even Christian media) want to discuss this possibility.  They treat the idea of normalized pedophilia as they did homosexual “marriage” 25 to 30 years ago—as too wrong and too incredulous to become reality. 

But the fact is, in recent years the de-criminalization of adult-child sex has become a worldwide movement touted by the United Nations, World Health Organization, and International Planned Parenthood.  And now we can add Southern Poverty Law Center to that list.  It will happen unless there is a huge public outrage fomented very quickly!

If we don’t stop them now, we have no one to blame but ourselves.  We are told in Scripture in the last days “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived “ (2 Timothy 3:13)!  Isaiah predicted accurately good would be called evil, and evil would be called good (Isaiah 5:20). 

That’s one reason I’d love to see the Federal Courthouse in Burlington, Vermont filled and surrounded with concerned people praying for the trial’s outcome and calling attention to what these evil people are trying to do to gain access sexually to our children.

We have been overwhelmed by your love, prayers, and support.  Once again, we want to express our gratefulness.  We are very thankful to the Lord for your friendship.

I do praise God He has opened quite a few doors for me to speak and share recently not only here in Virginia but in Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine.  I am going through every door God opens for me.  Let me know if I can share in your church or group.

Not only do I tell my story of being unjustly sent to prison, but the way God blessed me through that experience. I do explain how the Southern Poverty Law Center is using this case against us to set a precedence for the normalization of adult-child sex, but my primary emphasis is showing how Scripture tells us that persecution and suffering for Christ is the calling of each believer, and we need to be prepared (2 Timothy 3:12; I Peter 4:12; Philippians 1:29-30; Matthew 24: 9-10; John 15:20).  None of us is exempt!

Yet we are not to be fearful (I Peter 3: 14-15), we are not to be ashamed (I Peter 4:16; Romans 1:16), and we are to persevere and endure to the end (Matthew 24:13; James 1:12; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 21:7).  And by God’s grace and His strength, we cannot compromise or capitulate (Revelation 3:16; 21:8).

On a personal note, Satan continues to attack me and my family physically.  Two of our six children required emergency surgery within the past months.  One had an emergency kidney transplant which the Lord miraculously provided by an anonymous stranger who walked into the transplant clinic off the street.  Another had to have surgery after falling and breaking her collar bone.

So please be in prayer for all of our protection and health.

I am so thankful to you for your prayers and also for your financial support. Thanks in part to you, our legal bills have been paid with the exception of the past couple of months.

We are at God’s mercy.  We are so grateful that we can lean upon Him and that He has sent faithful friends such as you who pray for us and help in so many other ways during these difficult times.

We are not just defending ourselves against very great evil but we are fighting for the protection of all our children. 

So thank you again for continuing to stand with us.

In His service,

Philip Zodhiates

P.S.  Please, if you haven’t already left a review at Amazon for my book, Innocent:  The Price One Man Paid for Doing What is Right, I encourage you to do so as soon as you are able.   Thank you again for continuing to pray!

LTRP Note: If you would like to help financially support Philip during this time, please visit 419fund.com.

To see other articles we have posted in this matter, click here.

Is the CHURCH the NEW ISRAEL?

By Tony Pearce

When I became a Christian in 1970, I read most of the Bible and came to three main conclusions:

That the Bible is the Word of God.
That Jesus is the one way to God.
That we are living in the last days.

A major factor influencing me to believe point three was the return of the Jewish people to Israel and the resulting conflict that tied in with such prophecies as Jeremiah 30, Zechariah 12-14, Matthew 24 and Luke 21. I also saw many factors in contemporary world events, which seemed to be pushing us in the direction of the Great Tribulation and the reign of Antichrist prophesied in the Bible. Somewhat naively, I imagined that Christians who took the Bible literally came to roughly the same conclusion.

I had a rude awakening from this delusion in 1982 when we joined a new charismatic fellowship in north London, which at the time seemed to have a lot going for it; lively worship, young families like our own with plenty of activity for teenagers, exciting prophecies that we were going to be a stepping stone on the way to taking London for Jesus. I was on the emerging leadership team and looked likely to be going to play a leading role in its development.

Dominion Theology

The Restoration magazine, produced by Bryn Jones and the Harvestime stream of the charismatic movement brought out its first broadside against Israel and the pre-millennial view of end-time prophecy. Our fellowship was not under Bryn Jones, but when I took issue with the interpretation of Scripture contained in this magazine, I found myself out of favor with the “Apostle” who was covering our fellowship and soon realized that my view of Israel and the end times was not flavor of the month and was placing me out of the running for any position of leadership in the group. Eventually, we left the fellowship, which far from taking London for Jesus ended up in discord and strife and now no longer exists. This was my first serious encounter with the view of prophecy sometimes known as Dominion Theology, which teaches that:

• This age will end with a great revival causing the global triumph of Christianity with great signs and wonders convincing people of the truth of the Gospel as all other political and religious systems fail.
• Prophecies relating to the restoration of Israel in the last days should in fact be applied to the church because the church has replaced Israel (or is the New Israel).

Bryn Jones described a vision in which he summed up this exciting prospect in store for those who took this line of interpretation:

• Ordinary Christians would be equipped with supernatural powers, laying hands on the sick with extraordinary miracles taking place in public places. Poverty would be abolished among them as multitudes turn to the Lord and have their material needs met through his provision.
• The powers of darkness would be overthrown—governments and religious systems based on principles opposed to the Bible would be shaken as the church emerges in power and glory.
• All nations would reach out to God as the church is established as the mountain of the Lord’s house, the highest of nations. Heads of government in despair at their own failure to solve the problems of humanity will turn to the revived church asking them to teach us the ways of the Lord (see Isaiah 2:1-4).
• Following this great revival, the Lord will return for his glorious church and wind up history.

Bible Literal or Allegorical?

However exciting this vision appeared, my problem was that it did not line up with the Scriptures that spoke of evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse (2 Timothy 3:13) in the last days of apostasy, persecution, and the rise of Mystery Babylon the Great, mother of harlots and abominations of the Earth (Revelation 17:5) and of a coming time of such great tribulation that if God did not cut short those days no flesh would be saved (Matthew 24:21-22). The only way to make out that the church would end up triumphant in this age was to take the Old Testament prophecies of Israel’s restoration in the Millennium (i.e. after the return of Christ) and apply them to the church at the end of this age (i.e. before the return of Christ). This in fact is what Bryn Jones was doing in the quote above—taking the words of Isaiah 2 that apply to the reign of the Messiah from restored Zion after his second coming and applying them to the church today. The church then replaces Israel and rules and reigns over the nations before the second coming as a result of the great end-time revival.

In order to do this consistently, one has to take the allegorical view of the prophetic Scriptures, which has in fact been the dominant church view since the time of Origen and Augustine (both of whom taught that the church replaces Israel and that the millennial reign of Christ is now taking place through the church).

An example of this line of interpretation would be to say that the fulfillment of the regathering of the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the Earth to the land of Israel (Isaiah 11:10) is the coming of the Gentiles from the east, west, south, and north into the kingdom of God (Luke 13:29).

What Do the Scriptures Say?

It is vital for Dominion Theology to take this line of interpretation because without it there are no Scriptures to justify the idea of the triumph of Christianity in the last days of this age. Therefore, those who insist on taking the literal view that Israel means Israel in the Old and New Testaments are seen as a threat, and their views are criticized and suppressed. However, it is the literal view that makes sense of both the prophecies themselves and the current world situation.

Let us now examine the evidence that Israel remains Israel in prophetic interpretation, after the church has come into being. For the sake of brevity, I have simply given the references for most of the passages referred to. To understand the issue, it is necessary to look up these passages:

1. God made a covenant with Abraham, repeated to Isaac and Jacob, to give him a multitude of descendants and the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession (Genesis 15, 17, 26:2-5, 28:13-15). This was conditional on God’s Word, not on the faithfulness of Abraham’s descendants. If they were unfaithful, God reserved the right to remove them from the land as a punishment for disobedience (Leviticus 26:27-39, Deuteronomy 28:58-68). However, every reference to the removal of the people from the land is always followed by a promise of restoration (e.g. Deuteronomy 30:1-6).
2. Even after the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34, God promises that only if the sun, moon and stars cease to give their light will the seed of Israel cease from being a nation before me for ever (Jeremiah 31:33-37). This passage significantly points to the continuation of Israel as a nation after the giving of the new covenant.
3. In the New Testament, the words Israel and Israelite are used over 75 times. In all but three occasions (one of which is the word Israel coming twice in the same verse), there is no question that these words are used to mean exactly the same as they mean in the Old Testament. Let us look at four examples in which Israel has to mean Israel:

Matthew 2:20. While in Egypt after the flight from Herod, Joseph is told in a dream to “go into the land of Israel”(note he was not told to go to Palestine!).

Luke 2:32. Jesus is described by Simeon as “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”

Luke 7:9. Jesus, speaking to the Roman centurion, said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

Romans 9:4. Paul writing of his kinsmen according to the flesh (who are Israelites) stated: “. . . to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises.”

Replace Israel or Israelite with the church or Christian and you reduce any of these verses to meaninglessness.

What About the Possible Exceptions?

Romans 9:6: For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.

(A similar thought is to be found in Romans 3:28-29). Looked at in context, the point Paul is making is not that Jews cease to be Jews when they don’t believe in Jesus or that Gentiles become Jews when they do. Romans 9 deals with the question of the remnant, an idea familiar to the Hebrew prophets, whom he quotes at length to make his point. Within the nation of Israel, there are those who are unfaithful and unbelievers as far as Yahweh, the God of Israel, is concerned, and there are those who are faithful. The spiritual remnant of Israel obeyed the Torah and heeded the words of the prophets. The backsliding majority did not and came under judgment—the most severe judgment being their removal from the land. However, there was always the possibility that the unfaithful Israelites would repent and return to the Lord and become believers, obeying the Torah. That was the purpose of the preaching of the prophets.

Now that the Messiah had come, the spiritual remnant of Israel recognized him and became Hebrew Christians/Messianic Jews. The unspiritual majority rejected him. However, Paul goes on to say in Romans:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11: 25-29)

Therefore, Israel will remain a people even in unbelief because of the covenant God made with the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), to be saved at the end of this age. This is backed up by point 2 above.

In the meantime, individual Israelites may turn to the Messiah, as Paul himself has done, and become part of the church made up of Jews and Gentiles united in Messiah. Therefore, Paul urges the church to pray for Israel to be saved and to take the Gospel to them (Romans l:16, 10:l).

Galatians 6:16: And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

The linguistic key to the interpretation of this verse rests on the Greek word kai translated “and” in the KJV and “even” in the NIV. If “and” is the correct reading, there are two groups of people in question: those who walk according to this rule and the Israel of God. If “even” is correct, then there is one group, those who walk according to this rule who are even the Israel of God. As a result of the latter interpretation, the Israel of God becomes a synonym for the church.

Paul’s argument in Galatians has been with those Jewish Christians who have been trying to impose observation of ritual aspects of the Torah (e.g. circumcision and dietary laws) on the Gentiles. He is therefore dealing with two groups of people, Jewish Christians, who are trying to influence Gentiles to be circumcised and keep the Law, and Gentiles who are being influenced. So the KJV version using the word “and” makes sense because Paul is commending both Jewish and Gentile Christians. The Israel of God therefore simply means the Jewish believers who have understood correctly the implications of the new covenant. This is consistent with the usual translation of kai as “and,” not “even.”

So we can see that even these “possible” exceptions are not real contradictions to the rule that Israel means Israel in the New Testament.

Does the New Testament Imply a Future for Israel?

The Old Testament contains many prophetic passages speaking of a worldwide restoration of Israel, many of which are connected with the events of the last days and the time of Jacobs trouble (e.g. Deuteronomy 30:1-6, Isaiah 11:10-12, Jeremiah 16:14-15, 30-31, Ezekiel 36-39, Zephaniah 3:20, Zechariah 12-14). It has been said by some commentators that the New Testament has nothing to say about this subject and therefore as far as Jesus was concerned, this was no longer on the agenda. However, Jesus treated the Old Testament as the infallible Word of God and assumed it would be transmitted without alteration to his followers (Matthew 5:17-18). In the light of this, we can assume that Jesus did not wish to add or take away anything from what had already been revealed through the prophets on the subject of Israels dispersion and restoration. Even still, there are significant New Testament references that imply a future for Israel:

• For Jesus’ own words concerning His second coming (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) to be literally fulfilled, there has to be a Jewish presence in Jerusalem and Judea (Matthew 24:15-22, Mark 13:14-20, Luke 21:20-24). Some opponents of this view argue that Jesus’ prophecy of the abomination of desolation, the flight from Jerusalem, and the great tribulation was fulfilled in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. There was no doubt a partial fulfillment of this prophecy then, but there is no way that this can be a complete fulfillment since in all three Gospels these events end in the visible return of the Lord in glory, something that clearly did not happen in AD 70 and has not yet happened to this day.

• In Matthew 23:39, announcing the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the desolation of the Temple, Jesus prophesies to Jerusalem:

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

• The phrase “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Baruch ha ba be shem Adonai in Hebrew) is the traditional Jewish greeting for the coming Messiah (note Psalm 118:19-29, Matthew 21:1-16). This phrase has no significance for Palestinian Arabs or any other Gentiles but is still used by Orthodox Jews in anticipation of the Messiah coming. This expectation of a Jewish reception committee in Jerusalem for the returning Messiah harmonizes with the prophecy of Zechariah 12:10 and the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jewish remnant in besieged Jerusalem as a result of which, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
• Luke 21:24: “[A]nd Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Whether or not the final fulfillment of this prophecy took place in 1967 (and my view is that it did not), it clearly implies a future restoration of Jerusalem to Jewish rule after the long years of their dispersion in which they are led away captive into all nations.
• In Acts 1, Jesus had the perfect opportunity to settle the matter once and for all. In the time between His resurrection and ascension, He had spoken to the disciples of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). Most important he had put them right on the matter of Messianic prophecy (Luke 24:44-46), showing them that he had fulfilled the prophecies of the Suffering Servant Messiah. We are not told which passages He referred to, but we can assume that Isaiah 53 was a major subject of this Bible study. There remained prophecies He did not fulfill at his first coming, notably Isaiah 2:1-4, which concerns the reigning king Messiah who would rule the Gentile nations from a restored and redeemed Jerusalem and cause there to be world peace.

• In light of this, the disciples question, “Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?,” makes sense. What they were essentially saying was: We understand that you had to first fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 53 by dying as a sacrifice for sin. Are you now (at this time) going to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 2:1-4, drive out the Romans, and restore the Davidic kingdom to Israel and bring world peace?
• Jesus does not say, Forget about restoring the kingdom to Israel. That’s finished now because everything is transferred to the church. He does say that their priority is to receive the power of the Holy Spirit and to preach the Gospel worldwide (which is still our priority). But the implication of Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power,” is that the Father has a time for the restoration of Israel. This will be sometime in the future at a date that the disciples will not know (because it is linked to the second coming; see Matthew 24:36).
• Romans 11:25-26: “So all Israel shall be saved” (v. 26). Those who teach Replacement Theology say that Israel in verse 26 means the church, but this makes nonsense of the text and the context. For three chapters, Paul has been discussing Israel’s unbelief and need of the Gospel, so logically Israel in verse 26 must mean Israel. The theme of a future spiritual restoration of Israel harmonizes with several Old Testament passages and is implied in Revelation 7, 11 and 12. For Israel to be saved at the end of this age, there must be a continual physical survival of the Jewish people throughout the Christian era. The response of the true church to Israel’s unbelief should have been to follow Paul’s injunction to pray for Israel that they might be saved. The failure to do this has resulted in tragic loss for both Israel and the church.

Now that we see the events of the end times, which center on Jerusalem and the Jewish people, unfolding before us, God is looking for a faithful remnant amongst believing Christians to pray for Israel and to point Jewish people to the only One who can save them, the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ).

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For additional information about Israel, Replacement Theology, and antisemitism, visit https://www.lighthousetrails.com and Tony Pearce’s website: https://www.lightforthelastdays.co.uk and his booklet: Israel: Beloved by God, Hated by Many. Also read Mike Oppenheimer’s booklets, Israel: Replacing What God Has Not? and Israel: A Burdensome Stone to the Nations and the Apple of God’s Eye.

8/26/2024 - New talk by Tony Pearce "Israel and the Middle East in Prophecy: What's Next?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxENjytrN98&t=42s.