SONS OF ABRAHAM CONFERENCE SYDNEY 19-22 SEPT 15
HOSTED BY CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL RECONCILIATION & PEACE
Report no 1 by Barbara Miller, cfirp@bigpond.com
This report is from some notes I made during the conference. However it is best to watch the DVDs so that you get the proper context in which to put these notes.
We praise the Lord for what He did through this conference and thank all those who helped to make it possible. Unless people give us testimonies or the Lord reveals something to us, we don’t know what’s happened in people’s lives or in heavenly realms through this conference. It is the church’s role to make known the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms (Eph 3:10). So please send in testimonies or what the Lord may show you in prayer. Not only were people touched who were there but through the livestreaming, many watched it in Israel, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. People will be touched by the DVDs who may not have been there and by this report which we plan to put on our website.
VISION
On Oct 3, praying before our service in Cairns and thanking the Lord for our conference, the Lord showed me a flower and it was giving off many seeds and more flowers came from it and more seeds and it kept reproducing. I believe this was saying that our conference will keep reproducing fruit in the lives of people who were there or touched by it in other ways. I prayed that the seeds would fall on good ground and not be eaten up by the birds or choked by the weeds as in Jesus’ parable.
PROPHETIC WORD
This fits in with the prophetic word I had during the conference on Sept 21 that the conference would birth many things. This word will be transcribed for report no 2 as some people couldn’t open the recording.
We do believe some outcomes are:
(1) The Father’s heart and love of God that flowed through the conference. People were also touched and healed by Norman’s welcome to Australia of those who came from overseas and tears flowed. People were also touched by love from the Miller family.
(2) Wonderful praise and worship which enabled people to enter in and encounter God. We were also blessed on the opening night by the Hope team, an Arabic worship team of 12 from different churches who sang in Arabic.
(3) Great messages from the heart of all the speakers with excellent Bible-based teaching. We were especially blessed to have the perspective of Palestinian pastor Bassem Adranly with his unique and insightful perspective. We have asked for someone who can translate his writing from Arabic to English as he is a major Christian apologist answering the criticisms that Moslems have of Christianity.
(4) Having Messianic Jews, Christian Arabs and other Christians worshipping and fellowshipping together. There were attitude changes, greater understanding and healing of relationships. On the last night, Shelly Volk, Messianic Jewish pastor from the USA prayed over the communion in Hebrew while Bassem from Israel prayed over it in Arabic – a special time.
(5) The conference was timed for a strategic time – the Days of Awe from Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a special time to get things right with the Lord. Many believe the last day of the conference was the start of the Jubilee year, a year of freedom and return of property. It only comes once every 50 years.
(6) After my message on the Isaiah 19 highway, I asked people from Egypt, Israel and Assyria to come to the front and join hands as a prophetic act of building the highway as Norman read the scripture and I prayed. I called up Margot Gabriel, an Egyptian-Australian who is helping set up houses of prayer and worship along this highway to come to the front and asked people to give her prayer and financial support.
Isaiah 19 highway formed by Christians from Egypt (Margot Gabriel and Fifi Farag & others) on left, Israel (Ps Shelly Volk & Marianna Chandler) centre and Assyria (Palestinian Ps Bassem Adranly and Iranian Florence Farjandi) right.
Ps Norman (top) reading the Isa 19 scripture and Ps Barbara Miller (right) praying over the highway
TESTIMONIES
Margot Gabriel – Wow, Barbara, that word is so rich and full of God. I’m so glad it’s on recording. I take it very personally as well. Several of the leaders in Israel have told me I embody Isaiah 19 and it’s true when I just look at my life it’s clearly obvious so I felt it was a word for me too. I am SUPER glad I was there. I feel something new was birthed in my ministry. Well enough of the selfish thinking I just couldn’t help to think how accurate it was for me.
Apart from that wow what it did for Australia. Let us mark down the date of this word and see what happens in Australia from the birthing of this conference. I KNOW we will rejoice as we look back. Let us scribe down the details of what happened at this conference because it will all play out now as it did in the conference. It will now play out into the nation over the months and years to come. I feel like a big pair of cymbals has been struck in heaven and on earth in the spirit realm and now the reverberations will go on and on. An orchestra will start to join those cymbals and new sounds will come out of this clashing of the cymbal. Those new sounds will come from the wells and ‘old’ instruments, including the didgeridoo, and it will cause a reverberation that cannot be stopped.
Suzanne G – I would to say that I am so so so blessed that I have been invited to the Sons of Abraham Conference. This conference has been totally life changing, the presence of the Lord in all His faithful sons and daughters in word and action. He has opened my eyes and my heart for ALL for His lost children . The Lord has put on my heart a continual prayer of blessing and protection and guidance for you both (Norman and Barbara) all those wonderful faithful speakers , intercessors, helpers , brothers and sisters that have a love for Israel , the jewish people and for the muslims…thank you for loving the Lord and serving him relentlessly. quote; Shout and be glad , O daughter of Zion for I am coming , and I will live among you declares the Lord. Many Nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people…..Zech 2 10-13
Claudine W. – Till this day I can’t remember where I saw the few lines promo on this conference. One fine day I simply google it to find details. Father God has it all planned out- last minute free invitation to participate in the Fine Food exhibition at Olympic park & our chosen hotel happen to be in Bankstown. This conference had been a tremendous blessing to me from the time I stepped foot even before the hall. I had never been so loved & welcomed in this nation since migrating to Perth 16.5yrs. One of the nite that Father God orchestrated me to stay back because my hubby was stuck in Newcastle biz mtg. When Norman Miller said I welcome (he repeated many many times). I suddenly cried & then the power & love of God embraced me. Wow didn’t know spiritually this was so important. All the stuff & strategies the Lord downloaded to me about this nation especially the last 8 years travelling the length & breath of Australia & Tasmania; suddenly I am able to trust God to open the way & start running with whoever, whatever, wherever.
Sue T – The anointing on this knocked me out! Credit to Yeshua but I wanted you (Sharon) and Barbara to know I agree with you and Him: The Whole World For Jesus! (Comment on Sharon’s report of conference.)
SAT 19/9/15
PS BARBARA MILLER – CONFERENCE VISION & SONS OF ABRAHAM
I described the dream and vision leading to the conference which is on the brochure & described some of our journey in coming to host this conference. On our first visit flying into Israel in 1996, I had a vision of Jews, Arabs and other Christians lying over the land side by side providing a prayer covering for it. I heard the word “Eretz Israel” for the first time, finding out it meant the land of Israel. I could see then that the Arabs could not be left out of the picture.
In prayer for some months I kept saying to the Lord I set my heart to understand the division between Jews and Arabs and how to heal it just as Daniel set his heart to understand God’s plans. I can’t pretend to understand the heart of the Arabs who were made refugees by the rebirth of the state of Israel or the Jews who were made refugees from Arab lands at this time in similar numbers.
However I picked up in prayer a strong sense of the injustice, rejection and pain that Palestinians feel because of (a) losing their inheritance as the older brother re Isaac/Ishmael and Jacob/Esau.
(b) sibling rivalry and (c) hatred of Israel who represents Sarah who caused Abraham to cast Hagar and Ishmael out. I already had a strong burden for the Jewish people. Now I was getting a strong burden for the Arab people, particularly the Palestinians.
As I wrestled with God over the months over this issue, God spoke to me from Isa 29:16. Can the clay tell the Potter He is wrong? No. Isa 45:9.God’s ways are higher than our ways. (Isa 55:8-9). God’s plan was to bless all people through a nation He singled out, even created, to reveal Himself to the world through. He called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans, present day Iraq (Gen 12:1-3).
In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye the Jew asks God why He couldn’t choose someone else because of the pain associated with being chosen. The Jews have been persecuted through time – pogroms, crusades, the Inquisition, expulsions from nations and the Holocaust. They were also in captivity in Egypt, Assyria and Babylon and ruled by Rome. This persecution is because of (a) carrying the holy seed to bring salvation (Yeshua) to the world and (b) because of disobedience to God and judgement.
Israel has been called to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood (Ex 19:5-6; Deut 7:6-8) and so also are Christians, whether Arabs or other Gentiles (2 Pe 9). Gal 3:28 tells us there is no Jew or Gentile in Messiah. There is no preference or favouritism. There are just different callings and destinies. Being chosen is a burden and privilege as well as a responsibility.
We owe a debt to Middle Eastern Christians who’ve kept the flame of Christianity alive since the time of Jesus and paid a big price over the years, especially at the moment with ISIS. Children are being killed in front of their parents because they won’t reject Jesus.
We know of the father heart of Abraham for Ishmael. “If only Ishmael could live under your blessing” (Gen 17:9).The Lord answered him yes, Ishmael will be fruitful, have great numbers and be the father of 12 rulers, a great nation but Sarah will bear you Isaac and I’ll establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. God heard Ishmael’s cries and saw Hagar’s distress when she feared he would die of thirst but God provided water and food, companionship and love and was with the boy as he grew up.
Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their father Abraham so this seems like a reconciliation took place. It may have happened earlier because to bury Abraham, Ishmael had to be living nearby. It is not recorded that Abraham’s sons by his wife Keturah were at the burial, Abraham having sent them away with gifts so they would not contest Isaac’s inheritance. Norman and I did prophetic acts of burying sibling rivalry at Hebron and the Temple Mount in 2010.
Isaac and Rebekah had twins, Esau and Jacob and Esau sold his birthright to Isaac and was said to have despised it. (Gen 25:34). Esau was tricked out of his father’s blessing as the eldest and it went to Jacob who then had to flee. After a long time Jacob returned and desired reconciliation but was fearful how he would be received but Esau ran to Jacob and embraced him. (Gen 33:4,10). They lived nearby and were blessed so much they had to separate and Esau moved to Mt Seir. His descendants, the Edomites, became enemies of Israel.
If anyone asks me whose side I am on in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I felt the Lord say to me one day to say – on God’s side and he gave me the story of Joshua’s encounter with the angel of the Lord. (Joshua 5:13-15)
The first peace treaty was between Jew and Gentile, Abraham and the Philistine king Abimelech at Be’er-Sheva. (Gen 21:22-23). Norman and I have prayed there often. God’s peace plan is through a covenant in Jesus’ blood. He broke down the dividing walls between Jew and Gentile in his body. (Eph 2:14). In Jesus’ time, Gentiles were only allowed in the outer court. In prayer, I saw a “Jews only” sign come down when He died. An earthquake tore down the curtain that separated believers from the Holy of Holies as Jesus or Yeshua entered the heavenly Holy of Holies, the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice. (Hebrews ch 8-10).
All believers are children of Abraham (Gal 3:7-9). Jews and Arabs are both Semitic and are in the natural bloodline. All believers are part of the spiritual bloodline.
PS GEORGE FATTAL – THE ARAB SPRING VERSUS THE CHRISTIAN HARVEST
Lakemba is like little Tripoli. 70% of the people are from Lebanon. Bankstown has 128 nationalities. December is the 5th anniversary of the Arab Spring which started in Tunisia. It is very westernized. The 2nd place the Arab Spring broke out was Libya and the 3rd Bahrain. One poor man who was fed up burned himself and started a flame, the Arab Spring. It turned out to be the Arab winter, a nightmare.
So we are having a Christian harvest but the labourers are few. The giant of Islam, the Goliath, is falling. Our weapon is the Bible. In the natural, the servant saw the armies against them but God opened his eyes to see the army of God. 1 Philiip 1:7 is a heavenly letter.
Ps George Fattal
Barbara said whose side are we on? We’re citizens of heaven, we’re ambassadors for Christ. John and Magda are here from MECO which has been working in the Middle East for 155 years.
The timing of this conference is amazing. It not only ends on the holiest day of the Jewish or Biblical calendar but also the most holy day for Muslims where Abraham was going to sacrifice Ishmael (not Isaac as in the Bible). There are 22 countries in the Arab world and 300 million population from Morocco to Turkey plus another 8 Moslem nations making 30. Please pray for one country each day of the month.
In Egypt, the revival is massive. There are 5 million Christians there via cable TV. At the International Book Fair, thousands queued each day for a Bible. The busiest stall was the Bible Society’s. In Syria and Lebanon, the government has asked the churches to open their doors to the refugees and they have. They provide food, blankets and books. No Christians are allowed in Mecca. In the United Arab Emirates and Iran, there are many MBBs underground with half a million in Iran. A revival started with the Berbers in Algiers in the 1980’s. George and his church are outreaching in the Middle East. How the west has opened its doors to refugees has touched hearts. If you can’t go to the Middle East, pray for one nation a day.
PS NORMAN MILLER – RECONCILIATION IN YESHUA
We have just come from hosting an Amos 9:11 Tabernacle of David conference in Cairns and the Lord showed me his answer to the Twin Towers terror attack on 9/11 was Amos 9:11 raising up the Tabernacle of David which is 24/7 prayer, praise and worship and Jesus sitting on the throne of David in Jerusalem ruling with righteousness and justice. The Lord showed me that I have been operating in a governmental anointing for Australia but that he was causing me to operate in a Zion governmental anointing. It is a different level/purpose.
Norman Miller with Barbara roaring like a lion for the song Norman wrote on the Lion of the Tribe of Judah
I have been to Israel about 10 times. I was there for the 50th, 60th and hopefully will be there for the 70th anniversary of its rebirth as a nation. As an Indigenous pastor, I have taken teams of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with me. The Lord drew my attention to Ps 48 about “walkabout Zion”, count her towers. Indigenous people know how to walkabout the land.
I have written a song about the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the government is on His shoulders (Isa 9:6). I am praying that the Aboriginal tribes of Australia align with the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus or Yeshua.
VISION As Ps George spoke about the 22 Arab nations, I was seeing Isaiah 22:22, the key of David and I saw an effective door of ministry opening. I saw the key come down and turn things quickly. What the Lord opens, no one can shut.
Mt 5:23 says if you come to lay your gift at the altar and find someone has something against you, go and be reconciled first and then come back and offer your gift at the altar. God will meet you at this conference and stir your hearts. Never despise the days of small beginnings. You will say I was there when the Lord spoke to me.
We spent some time in Zimbabwe bringing reconciliation in relationships between the Ndebele and Shona tribes. I was to preach in a white church and I took a boomerang with me with John 14:1-2 on it but it broke on the way and the Lord said to me it symbolized a broken covenant. We have a saying that when you throw a boomerang, if it doesn’t come back, it’s a stick.
We sometimes rely on the voice of the GPS to get us somewhere but we need to rely on the voice of the Lord instead. I had trouble with the GPS I got from the airport as it didn’t work. As I prayed about it later, I was reminded of the “famine of not hearing the voice of the Lord” or the spiritual famine it talks about in Amos 8:11 when we are disobedient to God, worship idols and treat others unjustly.
Eph 2 talks about the one new man in Yeshua, Jew and Gentile together. I finish with Eph 3:14-16 that we may “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” or Messiah and Ps 133 about where there is unity, the Lord commands a blessing.
RABBI LAWRENCE HIRSCH – SHALOM IN MESSIAH
L’ Shana Tova 5776 or Happy New Year. Schmita Pita. There’s been too much hype. Did you think you’d be here today? We have a message of hope and new life and no stock market crash can take that away. I’ve just come back from Israel where I attended the Lausanne Conference on Jewish Evangelism and Chosen Peoples Global Network. I was in PNG recently and was greeted by hundreds of people dressed in blue and white singing and dancing and they washed our feet. If a Jewish person wants to be loved on, go to PNG.
Lawrence Hirsch
However, you don’t have to go overseas to be missionaries. Australia is a very multicultural nation. We have our fellowship in Jewish Melbourne near Caulfield racecourse. There are 45 synagogues and 75,000 Jews there. In Celebrate Messiah, we have Jews and Gentiles together. I have baptised 30 Iranian boat people in the last few years. I wish I could say I have baptised 30 Jews as that is my main ministry focus. I have Muslims coming to me saying they love Jews.
It was the beginning of the Messianic movement in Acts 2. Jews and Gentiles were one in Messiah. Eph 2:11-13. There were 4 ways Gentiles had been underprivileged until Jesus death on the cross.
(1) They were separated from Messiah, cut off
(2) They were excluded from citizenship in Israel
(3) They were foreigners to the covenant, even the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 which was for Jews and
(4) They were without hope and without God.
Rabbi Paul was excited to tell them about their new position in Christ, the reverse of the 4 points above. It is not the teaching of Yeshua that brings the peace but Yeshua Himself. The Gentiles had to stay in the outer court and there was a sign that they could not go in the Holy Place on pain of death. The spiritual barrier was destroyed at Jesus’ death but the physical wall came down in AD 70.
We have to be careful as Jews not to have an ethnic superiority complex. To get Peter to go to the home of Cornelius, the Lord gave him the vision of unclean food and told him to eat. This opposed his thinking. It was unclean for him to go to the home of a Gentile but he did as requested to share the gospel and the Holy Spirit fell on them. Peter was now in trouble in Jerusalem and his response was basically “it’s not my fault. God made me do it.” But through the Cross, we are one new man and can have table fellowship.
Re the refugees, there is so much fear of what Moslems will do but we need to reach out to suffering humanity. Evan Thomas in Israel is involved with a group called Musalaha (reconciliation in Arabic) and he said he has asked a number of Palestinian Christians what is the core of their identity and they say the cross. When he has asked a number of Messianic Jews the same question, they say the land. The church is built on Jewish foundations. We can’t change that. We have to accept it.
PS BASSEM ADRANLY – FROM NATIONAL HATRED TO JEWS TO LOVING THEM, MY PALESTINIAN ETHNICITY AND NEW CREATION
As a Palestinian pastor from East Jerusalem, Bassem brought a challenging and insightful Christian message to the conference born out of his experience, deep study of the word of God and his desire to be an authentic witness for Christ. He was brought up with a father who was negative towards Jews daily. Living in the West Bank, he has an undefined identity, with a Jordanian passport, not an Israeli passport. This has turned out to be a gift.
He said the Lord asked him to bring a message on “Political Healing” while in South Africa and he challenged them on whether they as a black church had thanked God for the whites. The pastor said no one had dared to say that to them but thank you, and a spirit of thanksgiving was released.
Bassem mentioned some of the steps on his journey. One of them was when the Lord challenged him with Mt 5 about loving your enemies and God told him that he hated Jews. He said the Palestinian church and much of the Arab church is crippled because “we didn’t let God heal our hearts.” We are meant to be a new creation with a message of reconciliation 2 Cor 5.
He said he struggled for some time determined to get a breakthrough on dealing with Palestinian-Israeli issues and his own spiritual walk. Then he got a major key. Mt 6 talks about no one can serve two masters for he will love the one and hate the other. He said it was the 2 sides of a coin. One side is the love of God and the other side is the hate of evil. But he realized it was possible for him to have not God’s love of his people but a humanistic or carnal love of his people. It doesn’t look bad but the other side of the coin is a dark place. So we can have misplaced loyalty to our ethnic group. He said if I have the wrong love, I have the wrong hate.
Bassem said if my love for my church is carnal, then I’ll despise other churches. If my love for my wife was carnal, I’d be jealous of her. If I love my nation, what’s wrong with that? But it means I don’t see the other side. We need to repent of the wrong kind of love because it won’t help my nation but destroy it.
Ro 8:8 We can do all the ministry we like but if we do it in the flesh without submitting to God then we do damage. Love is not just a commandment. It is God Himself.
1 John:11 Whoever hates his brother is in darkness. This is foundational.
He said he sometimes tells the story of the Good Samaritan. If he has a Jewish audience, he will say the Jews passed him by but a Palestinian helped the man who was robbed and hurt. However, if it is a Palestinian audience, he will say the Palestinians crossed to the other side but the Jewish settler helped him. It was a powerful message.
Bassem Adranly
SUN 20/9/15
BASSEM ADRANLY – HOW TO PRAY FOR THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE EAST: LOVING ENEMIES
Bassem was aware some of these prayer points would be difficult for people but they are also needed.
1. Against bitterness Heb 12:14-15
We need to guard against a root of bitterness. In Gen 37, Jacob refused to be comforted. We are the only ones who can prevent healing to our souls. God comforts us. Everything is a gift from God because all things work together for the good of those who love God.
2. Redeem suffering Acts 4
There’s a tendency to run from suffering. God has a plan for your life and the devil can’t take one day off your life except what God agrees to.
3. Not to judge between 2 sides Luke 12:13-14
I saw a church standing between Jews and Arabs as judges. This is a mistake. There are two peoples and two stories.
4. Driven by 2 streams i.e. religious fanaticism v humanistic Christianity
In Mt 22:18-21 it describes the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar. The Pharisees would not deal with Rome but the Sadducees did. Jesus realized they were hypocrites trying to trap Him so he took a coin and asked whose face and inscription is on it? As it is Caesars, pay to Caesars what is Caesars and to God what is God’s. God allowed the Romans to rule Israel for a reason. Do I trust Israel today? No. I trust God. Acts 17:26 God set the times for nations and the exact places where men should live. The land is God’s. Not political Christianity. Jesus told Herod you have no authority over me except what is given from above.
5. Pray for earthly peace 1Tim 2:1-3
We need to pray for those in authority. We need freedom of worship for the extension of the kingdom not peace for the sake of humanity. The UN is not helping the poor in the world. Their policies protect the rich. The church is not a secular peacemaker.
6. Don’t resist evil James 4:7
Jesus said not to resist an evil person but to turn the other cheek. There’s danger in fighting evil. God didn’t ask us to fight evil but to resist evil and follow Him. I say to my suffering brothers, the Lord sees your suffering. Overcome evil with good. The Lord will fight the enemy for you. I’ve seen the church fighting the occupation and becoming a political tool. Secular organisations do it 100 times better than the church.
7. Biased judgement
Barbara (Miller) said in her message that before Joshua (5:13-15) took Jericho, he encountered the angel of the Lord and asked are you for us or our enemies. He replied neither but as commander of the army of the Lord I have come. She said we need to be on God’s side and I agree.
The church is selective when it comes to justice. We need to speak the truth without fear or remain silent. Truth is not a mask I wear when it is convenient. John the Baptist died for it.
Why should we weep when Christians die in Iraq and not when Shiites die? It’s ethnocentric. If I have more compassion for Christians but say of the others they are evil and they deserved to die, I am biased.
8. God’s love overflows/heart of God
Stephen – the Son of Man and all of heaven were watching what he would do as he was stoned. He declared forgiveness, God’s love. If we declare God’s love, something in heaven will break open.
In response to questions, Bassem said fight lawfully i.e. according to God’s word. Abraham paid Ephron for the field for a burial site (Gen 23:16). Abraham let Lot choose the best land when they separated. Arab Christians find it harder than Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) to accept Israel’s land.
BOB MENDELSOHN- YOU CALL THAT A CHURCH? ETHNICITY, CULTURE & ETHNOCENTRISM
I grew up as an Orthodox Jew. I grew up with 2 sets of dishes, one for meat and one for milk and another set for meat at Passover and milk at Passover. I thought of US and THEM. 1969 was a hippy time of self-discovery and free love that cost you everything. I was in New Orleans at 2am dancing and listening to jazz. I realized I hated this guy and I didn’t even know him. Here I was a hippy person of peace and love. This was ugly. I was failing as a hippy and I didn’t have anything to fix it. In May 1971 I got saved. I loved Jesus going up against the rabbis and he seemed to win. I got thrown out of home as a 19 year old. I started holding meetings at 20 years old and people came. I just stayed ahead of them. I pastored it or I pest-ored it.
Bob Mendelsohn
Acts 16:1. If you were going to start a church, who would you pick to kick it off? Missiologists like Donald Mc Gavin say pick prominent people, leaders. If you go to Africa, get a king or a governor who’ll Constantine his people. That church-state harmony was a cacophony that ruined the church for centuries.
Who did Paul chose? Timothy who had to get snippered because his father was Greek. He wasn’t even fully Jewish. Paul then received a vision to go to Macedonia. Well, Paul don’t get distracted by women. But the next convert was Lydia, a woman at a trade show in Philippi, a city in Macedonia. Person no 3 was a slave girl who was delivered from a fortune-telling spirit. This angered her owners who could no longer make money out of her and Paul and Silas were beaten and locked up in the inner prison and put in stocks. Would you rethink the idea of starting a church in Philippi?
They worshiped and there was an earthquake and the jailer feared retribution for allowing them to escape but they were still there so he was open to the gospel. The jailer realized they were more liberated than he was. The other prisoners didn’t escape either but listened to the gospel. So now Paul had a church with ex-cons, a cop, a half Jew half Greek, a slave girl and a chick on a trade show. But it worked.
I got away from the US and THEM thinking I had grown up with. In the USA, there are black churches and white churches. As the church, we are family and we need to think US. Clubs are exclusive and you can have a women’s club or a men’s club but once you have a church, it’s for everybody. If I go to a Gentile church, it’s not a Gentile church anymore. If you call it a Messianic congregation, it’s for everybody. However Jewish Messianics need to sometimes meet without Gentiles because they need that comfort zone to discuss things and it’s uncomfortable to tell Gentiles they can’t come.
I recommend reading Reinhold Niebuhr’s 1950’s book “Christ and Culture” and yell at him or agree with him.
Magda Ackad
PS JOHN & MAGDA ACKAD – ABRAHAM, THE OTHER STORY
Not available on DVD. John gave us an idea of what Muslims believe about Abraham and Ishmael. It was an excellent session.
Our Tabernacle of David Cairns team and family – Colleen Burfitt, Mum Ps Shirley Miller,
Lillian Miller, Deborah Miller and Joanne Miller with new friend Adel Moussa centre
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