Dear friends,
Shalom to our community of faith!
Katharine and I hosted Zola Tours’ 30th Anniversary tour, with buses full of pilgrims anticipating a life-changing experience in Greece, Israel, and Petra. No matter which combination of tour options our pilgrims chose—the whole adventure or a portion—revelation in the Word and intimacy with the Holy Spirit were guaranteed to “rock their world.” Those whom God entrusts to our ministry’s Holy Land pilgrimages have their lives turned “right side up”!
It’s very satisfying for Katharine and me to see the wide-eyed transformation that these journeys precipitate in the hearts and minds of Bible believers. Thanks to your donations, after the tours we were able to stay and film teaching programs on location in the Land.
The need is strong for this world to understand the Hebrew roots of Christianity. Many in the Church are asleep to this connection. The result is alienation from both Israel and the mandate to “provoke” my people, the Jews, to jealousy. In the 11th chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul (Rav Shaul) cries from his heart his deep desire to see Israel saved, and the exhortation to all Believers to do likewise, to live in such a way that the Jewish people will be attracted to their own Messiah. This must begin with the understanding that Jesus is Jewish, His name is Yeshua, and the Gospel story came to the lost sheep of the House of Israel before God opened the doors to the gentiles.
A tour of Greece and Israel clarifies Paul’s words. Standing on Mars Hill overlooking Athens, one can almost hear the conflicting paradigms that have wafted there through the Ages. The message of the Jewish Messiah must have been shocking to the ears of the Athenians! And can you imagine what life in Athens must have looked like to this committed man of the Word?
Acts 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
Talk about provocation! Paul was overwhelmed with the mission: to see the Jews know Yeshua and the gentile world come into the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2). Hence, he began in the synagogue and continued in the marketplace. With the Jews, he could rehearse his pedigree, as we read in Philippians, chapter 3:
4though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: 5circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; 6concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
I laugh when I think of the accusations that still confront Jewish Believers today: We are “not Jewish enough,” or we have been bewitched by gentiles to follow a man, or some other such opposition. No matter the excuse, they all boil down to this: “You cannot convince me of Yeshua’s veracity because (fill in the blanks) you are way too _____, not quite enough _____, etc.” It’s actually true that we do not convince men: “the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come” (John 16:8).
Add to the Jewish challenge Paul’s experiences in the Agora (marketplace of Athens). God was building on the revelation that Peter experienced in Acts, chapter 10. Through Peter’s vision of the unclean animals, God communicated the importance of reaching out to the gentile world, to people in the house of Cornelius. Then in Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council confirmed that the door was open to the gentiles, and that God was not going to make it insurmountable for them to know Him. In fact, the requirements would be simple. Instead of the whole megillah (scroll), God was asking that the gentiles obey four simple ways of life:
Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
How gracious of God … literally!
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
Still, there was the problem of translating the Hebrew concepts to the pagan world. Paul was not unfamiliar with the Greek mindset. He was born and raised in Tarsus in Turkey (Acts 22:3). His parents gave him to be tutored by the famous Jerusalem Torah teacher, Gamaliel (also Acts 22:3). From a tender age, Paul was filled with knowledge from the Tanakh (an acronym for the three sections of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament — Torah, the five books of Moses; Nevi’im, the prophets; and Ketuvim, the wisdom / poetry books of the sacred scriptures. Hence, TaNaKh).
Nevertheless, the open door to the gentiles, with the simplicity of the requirements stated above, was a stumbling block to religious Jews.
Gentiles treated as equals? Ouch! Alienation set in.
The stage was set for “gentilizing” the faith community. In the second century, Emperor Hadrian banned circumcision for the Church. Circa 306 AD, the Council of Elvira in Spain outlawed intermarriage between Christians and Jews. Perhaps the ultimate blow came with the “conversion” of Constantine. At his Council of Nicaea in 325 AD (to which no Jews were invited!), Easter replaced Passover and soon Shabbat (Sabbath) worship became suspect as well.
So gentile Believers have inherited a mixture of anti-Semitic doctrines and attitudes that still plague the Church today.
It is up to us, the current generation of believers in Yeshua, to right these wrongs and restore Yeshua’s Jewish identity! Remember as you reach for your Jewish friends, you are reaching across a chasm of chaos caused by millennia of ill-informed Christians in the name of Jesus. When you see the cross, you see a symbol for salvation, new life, and eternal joy. When a Jewish person sees the same cross, he or she may see a symbol for the Inquisition, the Crusades, pogroms, the Holocaust.
That is why we labor on in the Name above all names!
That is why I thank you for your past support and ask you to prayerfully consider financially assisting our vital endeavors. We are eagerly preparing a new series on Joseph the Patriarch. Who better portrays the restoration of our Messiah’s Jewish identity? All of Egypt’s wealth and power could not obscure the familial connection between Joseph and the other sons of Jacob. Will you help us produce this new television series?
Katharine and I are passionate about showing Joseph as a prefigure of Jesus. We believe that connecting the stories of Joseph and Jesus will pierce the hearts of our Jewish family and friends.
One sure way to keep these issues at the forefront of your heart’s priorities is to join us on our 2014 Spring Tour. You can travel with us through Israel from March 16–25, or choose the extension to Petra (shown right) and tour until March 28. Spring is a wonderful time to be in Israel, when the Land blooms and resurrection life abounds. As God would have it, we will be there at the conclusion of Purim, the joyous feast of Esther when the Jewish people memorialize the heroics of my namesake Mordecai and the amazing Esther, a wonderful model for the Bride of Christ.
The whole Land will be alive with anticipation, looking toward the spring Feasts of Pesach (Passover) and Unleavened Bread. Of course, Messianics will be preparing for the most important Feast of First Fruits / Resurrection Sunday / Easter. Our office tour manager, Sandra, can help you with any details you wish to discuss. Please call her at Zola Tours: 214-696-9760 or email her at .
This month, with America’s Thanksgiving Day nearing, Zola Levitt Presents airs teaching that is full of praise, thanksgiving, and worship for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As Katharine and I host an encore presentation of The Holy Days of Our Lord, Zola’s classic 11-part series on the Seven Feasts of Israel, we offer fresh insights. We pick up with the last of the spring Feasts, beginning with Shavuot (Festival of Weeks / Pentecost).
Note: To order this series on DVD, please go to https://store.levitt.com/DHDL.
Thank you again for standing with us as we broadcast this vital message to the Church and the world. May your home be filled with thanksgiving to God for His grace and goodness. Blessings, and please remember: Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim—“Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem!” (Psalm 122:6)
Your brother,
Myles
P.S. Please keep your eyes on the continued closing of the chasm. Every time you proclaim your love for Israel and the Jewish people and support ministries like ours, you help heal the effects left by centuries of alienation between Jews and Christians.
Dear Myles,
In His perfection, God chose Paul because of his “pedigree”… and Paul’s willingness to overcome his pedigree.
“Here’s my November donation. Use it to produce the TV series on the Patriarch Joseph and sustain your various biblical outreaches.”
Hanukkah—the Jewish Feast of Lights—harks back to a time before Christ when a cruel, anti-Semitic dictator threatened to wipe out the Hebrews. But the Lord’s Deliverer arose, lit the lamp of hope, and saved Israel. From generation to generation, Jews have lit lamps in their homes to commemorate the victory and retell the story of the Feast of Lights.
Beautiful, useful, and revealing. A lovely and very spiritual art object for mantelpiece or coffee table display, this wood and parchment scroll is hand-copied and handmade. The Messianic prophecies are written in Hebrew and English. A marvelous witnessing tool and great gift idea for any occasion.
In this twelve-part TV series, Dr. Jeffrey Seif sheds light on the Apostle Paul, his movements, and his message. After examining Paul’s travels throughout the Roman Empire, Jeff analyzes Paul’s divinely inspired letters to early Church congregations, preserved in the New Testament.
Thirteen of the New Testament’s 27 books bear Paul’s seal and signature. Consequently, he is the New Testament’s principal interpreter of what it means to be “Christian.” Jeff looks closely at Paul and the fact that the major “Christian” interpreter lived, acted, and thought as a “Jewish rabbi.” St. Paul, a rabbi?
