Brickner on Palin and Israel and such...

The Jewish News in Australia reported last Friday that David Brickner, head of Jews for Jesus, living in USA, spoke at the church Sarah Palin attends. That is true. The headline of the short article said that Palin disagrees with what Brickner said. That's probably not true.

Find out for yourself...


From Brickner:
There is much media furor over my remarks at Wasilla Bible Church on August 17th. The comments attributed to me were taken out of context. The notion that the terrorist, bulldozer attack in Jerusalem this summer was God’s judgment on Israel for not believing in Jesus, is absolutely not what I believe. In retrospect, I can see how my rhetoric might be misunderstood and I truly regret that.

Of course I never expected the kind of magnifying glass scrutiny on a message where I was speaking extemporaneously. Let me be clear. I don’t believe that any one event whether a terrorist attack or a natural disaster is a specific fulfillment of or manifestation of a Biblical prediction of judgment. I don’t believe that the newspaper should be used to interpret the Bible. The Bible interprets the Bible.

I love my Jewish people and the land of Israel. I stand with and support her against all efforts to harm her or her people in any way. Please feel free to read my further explanations, in my Realtime article and in the interviews I did with Christianity Today and NBC.

Sincerely,
David Brickner

Reproduction

An essay on sometimes competing strands of ministry in the body of Messiah.

I'm going to be speaking at Christian City Church School of Ministry in Oxford Falls tomorrow and Harvest Bible College in Dandenong next Tuesday. Each of these colleges affords good opportunities for their students to experience many dimensions of the life of the church, including academics and spirituality and prayer and such. Then next Thursday I will speak to the Reformed Theological Seminary near Geelong. There I expect things will be a bit more academic and a bit different in style to that of these previous two.


This makes me think about what we produce at colleges and seminaries and such. What about what I'm reproducing in my ministry?

Sheep create sheep; pastors produce pastors; academicians self-duplicate and so do missionaries.

Now here's how this usually plays out. A pastor-driven church models pastoral care for the parishioners and thus home groups abound, and the maintenance and preservation of the church is vital and consistent. Outreach is usually to members of other churches and to members of church members' families. Growth is seen in personal growth and not necessarily in terms of numbers of attendants. Transfer and biological growth ensue, but usually little conversion growth. The highest title a person achieves and desires is 'pastor' or perhaps in more authority-structured churches, 'apostle.'

At universities, academics is highlighted and some Bible colleges and seminaries do the same. Their telos is to produce more academicians. A student will want to teach at a uni when he or she concludes their studies. Or they will want to gain another degree. Growth is seen as attaining more information and knowledge and of course, commensurate wisdom. 'Doctor' is the valued title, to be sure.

When missions are outreach oriented, and souls are at stake, the
development of styles of bringing others to Messiah Y'shua are
highlighted. Titles are usually dropped. Numbers of conversions are counted. Personal growth can be sidelined and so can programs of institutionalism. Academics and personal spirituality are useful tools to conversions, but not necessarily of great import to the mission. People who come to faith are tracked to become soldiers in the army of recruiters to bring in others.

So let's think about teamwork and not competition for a bit.

When I as a missionary attend an academic institution to speak about Y'shua or Jewish people from my side of things, I know I'm going against the grain. It's not wrong that the institution is self-propagating; it's the way we all work. So I have to give testimony to other angles on the same truths that they might teach. I have to share say, "Christ in the Passover" from a personal point of view, or an evangelistic point of view, or a Jewish life point of view, rather than (only) an academic viewpoint.

When I teach "Biblical Theology of Mission" I cannot duplicate the academic perspective, nor should I. What I need to bring is a Jewish highlighting, perhaps from personal experience or from historic Jonah vs. Peter at Joppa or even using Jewish objects of art to wrap around the information.

This way we are a team. The academic brings information from his or her point, the missionary from his.

Take the missionary visit to the church. We hope to help the church grow in relation to outreach which puts their neighbours in the view and life of the church. We hope that the church will include Jewish people in their thinking, outside the usual concerns of most churches and certainly outside the concern of most pastors, whose principle job is to care for the sheep.

The pastor is not wrong. The pastor in fact is doing exactly what they should do if they care for the sheep. Our role is to help the sheep see other things, to see more possible ministries in which they can participate.

We should not compete with the pastor nor the academician. We are on the same team with them.

Now that Jews for Jesus is over 30 years old, and most of our programming is moving towards developing the growth of 2nd and even 3rd generation Jewish believers, our situation of life is changing. We are moving away from direct evangelism as our singular definer and including major programs of personal growth and spirituality as well as academic growth. This is healthy and good.

So now we are looking at young adults who have grown up in the faith. Their models of growth have been pastoral for the most part. And thus, their style of ministry will encompass that aspect. Some will enjoy the rigors of academia and hope to fit in there. Good for them!

All the while, our ministry seeks to make Y'shua known to our people and has a core value of direct Jewish evangelism as our priority. And so we should.

But the young adults whose orientation has been pastoral/ congregational will need a fresh infusion of missional thinking. This will require us to think of reproduction in a fresh way. We have to 'win' the won to our cause. We have to help 2nd or 3rd generation Jewish believers to see direct Jewish evangelism as a great priority. We have to market evangelism in a different way, but always in a personal and challenging way.

It's perfectly acceptable for ministries to change foci. It's right to continually seek God to determine what He wants for us. Then we must be faithful to that desire and execute it.

Election

A year ago people in Australia kept asking me who would win the US election. I kept insisting we wouldn't know anything until a year on (August 2008). The two factors would be the war in Iraq and the economy. Nothing else really matters. Eventually everything is subjugated by those factors. External security and internal wallets.

Now the two slates are filled in with McCain/Palin (who?) and Obama (who?)/Biden.

But the factors that remain are Iraq and money.

The reports are coming in well in the Republican column. We are winning in Iraq. The surge is working. Iraqis have a lot of extra money and are growing in peaceful and democratic life. That says a lot for the Repubs.

Economic news will be spun and respun over the next 60 days, but if petrol prices drop or remain steady, if the grocery bill drops even a bit, and if people have a bit more money in their wallet (not in comparison to 2002, but in comparison to last year or even January), they will stay the course.

Follow the money. That's who will win.

Termination

The Beijing Olympics came and went. 16 days of gold, silver, bronze. 2 weeks of tennis and swimming and diving and ping pong. Nations at war actually hugged after each race and contest. Nice to see. But unfortunately, it's over. Terminated. All done.

Down in Sydney, Colin is a memory now, the lost baby whale who found its way to Pittwater last week, and eventually was put down. The Australian newspaper reported, "The decision was made at a meeting of NSW Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) workers, scientists and representatives of other agencies after the calf's deteriorating health took a drastic turn for the worse.

Rescuers opted against making another attempt to shepherd the starving 4.5 metre whale calf into open water, the NPWS said.

The calf unexpectedly appeared on Sunday at The Basin, inside Sydney's Pittwater, and returned on Tuesday after being towed out to sea."

The country mourned the loss of the baby whale.

Meanwhile in Victoria "MPs will have a conscience vote on the bill, which, if passed, would remove abortion from the Crimes Act.

Under the legislation, introduced in (VIC) Parliament last week, women would be able to choose to have an abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Late-term abortions would be allowed if two doctors believe the termination to be appropriate on medical grounds and with regard to the woman's physical, psychological and social circumstances.

Women's Affairs Minister Maxine Morand also said that there was no link between the abortion rate and the restrictiveness of abortion laws." (The Age)

Wow, the nation as one cared about a whale, but the Brumby government thinks abortion on demand, well, it's ok. Abort...doesn't that mean to stop something? Terminate...doesn't that mean to end something? So what are the termination services really providing? An end of a life? End of the choice of the baby?

We care about Colin...let's care about all the babies in Victoria and beyond, and give voice to abortion causes, and stand for life.

08.08.08.08.08

It's almost 8 in the morning on the 8th of August. There is nothing significant about the timing of today. But some sign-watching community may say otherwise.

It is Friday, so oh, maybe "TGIF, Thank God it's Friday" is a good thought. But 08.08.08... is that significant? I suppose if your birthday is today, it's a fun day. If you are living near Beijing today, the Olympics begin today. And that's probably why the Chinese chose the date for the Summer Olympics to begin.

On this date in history:

In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II.

In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

In 1968, Richard M. Nixon was nominated for US president at the Republican national convention in Miami Beach, Fla.

In 1973, US Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew branded as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign — which he ended up doing.

In 1974, US President Richard Nixon resigned after all the exposure from Watergate and the commensurate scandal.

In 1978, the U.S. launched Pioneer Venus II, which carried scientific probes to study the atmosphere of Venus.

In 1994, Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two once-warring countries.

So if you look at 08.08 in history, some things of significance occurred.

But what about today? 08.08.08. Does it herald something of significance in your life?

Here's my 8 am observation. If you are ready, and willing, and have never done this before... why not make today the most significant day of your life, by asking God to forgive you of all your sins, once for all, and receive Y'shua, the Jewish messiah, as the sin-bearer, and be forgiven?

God loves you and wants to be in relationship with you. Our sins separate us from Him. He sent Y'shua to bridge that gap. Asking Jesus to be your Saviour and sin-bearer..that's the way over to the other side.

If you can, do it this morning in a few minutes. At 8:08. Or at 8:15 or at 8:30 or as soon as you read this. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
Then 08.08.08 will be the best day of your (eternal) life.

Iguanas the Truth and Do you know who I am?

Today in the lower house in Sydney, NSW Liberal MP Ray Williams was ejected from state parliament after bringing a stuffed-toy iguana into the lower house. Mr Williams produced the toy as Premier Morris Iemma rose to answer a question from Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner relating to the incident at Iguana's Waterfront Bar at Gosford, involving John Della Bosca and his wife, federal Labor MP Belinda Neal.

Speaker Richard Torbay ordered Mr Williams, the MP for Hawkesbury, be removed from the house.

The row at the nightclub is now the subject of a police investigation after conflicting statutory declarations were made about the incident. Staff at Iguana's say Mr Della Bosca and Ms Neal, threatened and abused them.

Ms Neal and Mr Della Bosca, who has been stood down as education minister pending the inquiry, have denied any wrong doing.

Look, some sense is there in the Lower House in Sydney. If a public official acts up and does wrong, he should be reproved. Shame is a bad thing, but it is really better than mockery.

When the truth does come out, it will bring health to an ailing government from all these news reports and Current Affair newsmagazine conversations.

THE federal MP Belinda Neal is accused of interfering with a second statutory declaration, after the husband of her former staff member said the Labor backbencher told him not to include in his statement that she bought a bottle of red wine on the night she was accused of abusing Iguanas bar staff.

David Batten, the husband of Ms Neal's former office staff member Melissa Batten, told Channel Nine's A Current Affair last night that he was instructed by Ms Neal to leave out details of "alcohol" from his statutory declaration over the affair.

Mr Batten's claims were revealed after his wife told the program on Monday she was told to hand over for shredding an original statutory declaration in which she included the comment that Ms Neal had said to staff at Iguanas Waterfront on June 6: "Do you know who I am?"

Wow, Ms Neal would have been well advised to stick to truth. Seems her staffer of only three weeks, Ms Batten, is more committed to such. But you never know.

I recommend we all stick to truth.

So how do you know the Truth? Remember, there was a Jewish rabbi some 2,000 years ago who asked some of his friends, "Who do people say that I am?" Peter was among them and quickly answered, "Some say you are Elijah (the Jewish prophet) or John the Baptist (another who was considered as a prophet in Jewish circles) or one of the prophets." (Good answer Peter)

Y'shua (that's the rabbi's name) answered with a different kind of question that is alleged to have come from Ms Neal. "Who do you say that I am?" might come off as a kind of "Do you know who I am?" But it's not asked with authority, rather genuine curiosity.

Peter replied, "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God." And he was right again.

And if you know Y'shua as your messiah and lord, you will have Truth and eternal life.

That's not good for ratings only; it's good for your whole life.

Another Jewish story

Friends,
I found this story today and was so blessed, I hope you will be also.

The author is a Jew from the US,a clinical psychologist, who certainly knows how to weave a story.

It begins with...

In my youth I spent every afternoon studying the Hebrew Scriptures, five days a week, and on Friday night and Saturday I worshiped. As I grew older I worshiped for a time each day in the synagogue morning and evening. I would rise before dawn and before going to the morning service, in obedience to rabbinic tradition, I would put on tefillin—the boxes containing God’s law—on my forehead and arm.

Then one cold, clear midwinter night my life was shattered.

The whole story is here