August 2001 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

I was visiting recently at the home of Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews for Jesus and a longtime dear friend. This letter was due, and I discussed using his dictating equipment and so forth. But a friend is a friend, and before I knew it, Moishe produced the letter below, actually imitating my style and making many points I needed to learn. I hope you derive as much from his valuable insights as I did. Here is his letter.

This matter is driving me crazy!

It is more than simply a misunderstanding or nuisance. I continually encounter an aggravating situation when I open up Christian magazines and books, or turn on the radio or television and see someone deliberately confusing the church and Israel.

Maybe I shouldn’t take it so personally. Maybe I should work on lowering my aggravation level. But watching what some churches do with Israel, let me tell you what it feels like. I feel like someone broke into and burglarized the family homestead. Then they took down all of the family pictures from the wall and replaced them with pictures of their family. Then, when I tried to get back into my own home, not only will they not let me in, but they have changed the number on the door to complete the fiction that my house belongs to them.

Just in case you missed my point, let me say it clearly. Israel is not the church, and the church is not Israel!

As part of the body of Christ, you should be happy that you are not Israel. If the church was Israel:

1. The church would have to go through a great tribulation on this earth, and that would be the next event on God’s schedule.
2. The church would be scattered here, there and beyond, according to God’s promise in Deuteronomy 28 about worldwide dispersion of Israel.
3. The judgment of God would be on the whole church because of its disobedience toward God’s laws.

The little ditty that children sing in Sunday school, “Every promise in the book is mine,” is just not true. When it comes to the promises of punishment and retribution, the theologians and songwriters are willing to assign them to Israel, but when it comes to the promises of blessings, they grab them away.

Can you imagine all of the born-again people in the world moving to the land of Israel? Well, that was one of the promises of God to the Jewish people. Now I don’t know if there are as many as twenty-five million born-again people. I certainly hope so, but there certainly are many more than could live within the borders of that little place as it now stands.

And how shall I put it, the so-called Palestinians are not going to be any more welcoming of born-again believers of many races than they are of my people.

No, let’s get it right. The church is God’s heavenly people with heavenly promises. There is no promise of land to the church, there is no promise of earthly harvests to the church (souls being a heavenly harvest), and there are no legal requirements on the part of God. That’s right, the Law was never delivered to the church; it was delivered to Israel. There are no laws in the New Testament.

Under the New Covenant, the Law is written on the heart. There are no precepts, no rules, no punishments assigned to the church. I am an Israelite.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind it when a preacher makes a modern application so that we can understand this or that as long as he doesn’t change the fact that the promises are to Israel. I have no quarrel with Billy Graham when he preaches from 2 Chronicles 7:14, because any country that has people who are called by God’s name will be blessed if they humble themselves and seek His face and pray. The application to the church is clear, but the promise was made specifically to Israel.

But ever since God chose Abraham, Satan has been trying to erase the Jewish people. Today Satan is using preachers to do his work.

It doesn’t have to be a choice between the church or Israel. God’s way is that both are to exist. He will accomplish His will through the church and through Israel. God didn’t change His mind. God, who knew the end from the beginning, chose Israel to be His earthly people, to follow His earthly law. The Jews are still God’s chosen people and have an earthly destiny. But my destiny is with the church — the Jews and Gentiles believing in the Jewish Messiah. I look forward with you to a soon-coming Rapture.

Pray for those Bible teachers who are teaching this popular misconception. Pray that God will show them how vast is His plan. Pray that they will see God doesn’t love the church any less for loving Israel. Pray that they will see that the true purpose of the church is not any less because of the glorious destiny He has planned for Israel.

When I think about it, if I believed that the church is Israel, I wouldn’t be urging you to come to Israel. I would just tell you to go to church. But Israel is Israel, and with it being God’s special land on the earth, I still plead with all of you who can come to join us on one of our tours.

Why not join us on our Fall Tour for a rewarding time in the Holy Land? We offer four options:

• Our Deluxe Tour: Sept. 3 – 13.
  Ten rewarding days in Israel for a first-hand encounter with the people and the land.
• Our Grand Petra Tour: Aug. 30 – Sept. 13.
  In addition to the ten-day Israel itinerary, you will experience Eilat and Petra.
• The Grand Athens Tour: Sept. 3 – 18.
  You’ll enjoy our Deluxe Israel Tour plus a relaxing cruise of the Greek isles.
• The Ultra Grand Tour: Aug. 30 – Sept. 18.
  This is the complete package: Israel, Eilat/Petra and the Greek isles cruise.

We are hosting tours of The Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida, during both Thanksgiving and Christmas. In November you may choose either the weekend of November 23 or November 30. Also, please ask about our optional weekday activities during the week of November 26. We are tentatively planning an Orlando tour between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

For more information, please call Tony at (214) 696-9760 during office hours. You may also call 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) anytime to request a full-color brochure.

Our new television series, entitled Thy Kingdom Come, will reveal the glorious future events awaiting all believers in Messiah. Its twelve program titles include “The Rapture,” “The Judgment Seat of the Righteous,” “The Wedding,” “The Second Coming” and “The Throne of Judgment.” You will learn about “The Kingdom” and “Eternity.” I am also creating a new music album by the same title, and the Lord’s music will enhance the TV series considerably.

The post-production invoices are already coming now, even though we won’t begin broadcasting the new programs until September. Your contributions now will help us more than at year-end, and these special programs will bless and inspire you for several months. Thanks. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

Your Messenger,