Monthly Archives: August 2017

Aug 30 2017

Should believers post Christian parody sites?

I like comedy, and like a lot of British people I am a bit sarcastic and use irony a bit.

I am not really a fan of Joel Osteen.  I don’t like the prosperity theology movement.   Pastors making huge amounts of money is embarrassing and a poor example of the gospel.   I am glad that this type of movement isn’t really popular in Britain but it does creep into some churches I’ve seen here.

Christian parody sites like the Babylon Bee, used to have some funny stories that highlight common things in a satirical way which is amusing especially if you have worked in a church or ministry.    Nowadays I think they step over the line.  In fact it often smacks of bearing False Witness.

https://hellochristian.com/9089-does-this-babylon-bee-article-on-joel-osteen-go-too-far 

However, I agree with this article here.  I have grown tired of Christian parody sites as they end up slandering various churches and ministries and cause a lot of problems.  It really looks poor in front of a non-believing world, if we post such things on social media.

The Babylon Bee has in the past made gags about the Holy Spirit.  For serious believers in Christ, this is treading on dangerous ground.   This is really really very very bad, please don’t do it.

 

Aug 6 2017

Three words in the bible indicate crucial prophecy – “knowledge will increase”

From the prophet Daniel:-

Daniel 12: 4 But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”

Knowledge is a wonderful thing, we have libraries and encyclopedias, and these days we have the internet.   Its easy to look up something in an instant.

About 5 years ago, I was travelling on a bus in Haifa Israel, and accidentally went past Google’s R&D labs.  I remember few years back, Google doubled their whole efforts in Israel.

So with the gospel coming out of Israel, and part of the hi-tech big names setting up shop there, its no coincidence Israelis are find their Messiah mostly through the internet, which is why I love all these testimonies happening from OneForIsrael.

https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/at-the-last-count-in-2016-over-23-million-have-seen-our-videos/ 

 

 

 

Aug 2 2017

Books on examples of Jewish evangelism in Israel

Ok, taking a break from my European travel writing, instead going back to my focus on the Holy Land and things I’ve seen and experienced.

I’ve been to a couple of places where there were congregations of Messianic Jews worshiping together who had some books on the testimonies and ministry work that brought Israeli Jewish people (and also Arab people and other groups) to Jesus.  I have two books from these places which have some of the most heart warming stories of Israeli finding their Messiah.

Let’s quickly make up this map:-

david davis bookThe first one at the top, is David Davis Z”L (he died in 2017) who is a pastor of a congregation in Mount Carmel, who wrote about his life in this book from being an actor and moving from New York.

The second is in the extreme corner of the bottom of Israel in Eilat from John and Judy Pex at The Shelter Hostel, which is also a meeting place for local believers on Fridays.

dscf8621Some people are told its illegal to spread the gospel to people in Israel.   This is a lie.  Israel has freedom of religion, albeit with some restrictions, you cannot convince child to adopt another religious without parents permission, and you can’t coerce someone to follow another religion in return for a gift or bribe.

Conventional evangelism in say, Jerusalem tends to not work well and its socially frowned upon, as in walk-up giving out leaflets.  In Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank) the number of believers is very small and congregations are probably limited to meeting in people’s houses.  The most common way people accept the gospel is through a Youtube videos which then results in people privately contacting the group like OneforIsrael for more information and a meet up.

I had a flash of inspiration the other day….

Maybe, revival of the Jewish people will happen at opposite edges of Israel and work its way back to the middle when Jesus will come back to Jerusalem!!

One the left, the blue symbols I’ve marked for “WhyMe?” which is from Tel Aviv based evangelist Jacob Damkani, and also for “Leave me alone I’m Jewish” by Pastor Ron Cantor also from Tel Aviv.   I’ve not seen these books but I need to get them soon.

Mount Carmel congregation https://britinjerusalem.com/2011/03/13/from-karmiel-to-mount-carmel/ 
The Shelter Hostel Eilat https://britinjerusalem.com/2015/07/31/come-stay-celebrate-the-story-of-the-shelter-hostel-in-eilat-israel-book-by-john-judy-pex/ and https://britinjerusalem.com/2009/12/23/journey-to-the-red-sea-%E2%80%93-part-two/ 

I’ll maybe write a part 2 to this part as theres some scripture that points to certain parts of Israel getting revival first.