January 2012

By Pastor Werner Oder, son of an Austrian Nazi SS officer

Replacement theology undoubtedly is of demonic origin, as can be seen from the enormous damage it has caused the Jewish people over the millennia. The very strange thing is that many of those who formulated it were “Church Fathers” who gave us much of the theology still taught in Christian seminaries today.

In spite of discovering biblical truth, their knowledge of God was inadequate, their faith limited, and their theology imperfect. This imperfection was passed down through the ages until it became Church tradition, even though much of it is not scriptural. Jesus noted that even the theologians of His day were “teaching for commandments the traditions of men” (Mark 7:9).

This is one of the reasons why many churches do not stand with Israel today─because their traditional views held that God had replaced Israel with the Church.

Though most of Israel’s Christian friends are clearly aware of this problem, few are equally aware that the pendulum is now swinging in an opposite direction. Over the years, I have observed the increasing trend among Christian Zionists to replace Church with Israel!

Pastor Oder continues with his personal statements:
Once again we have troubling doctrines adopted by some Christians that suggest they are really the lost tribe of Ephraim. Or that there is no blessing on their church because the pastor does not use unleavened bread, teach the law, or say the blessing in Hebrew. So they leave their fellowship, miffed that they do not sing Hebraic songs or the pastor does not preach about Israel.

They claim to have been “hurt” by the organized Church and decide to have church at home. This is a fashionable phrase which one hears all the time: “I was hurt by the Church.” We live in a broken world where people injure each other. Getting hurt is inevitable.

Since the truth always hurts, my guess is that those “hurt” in church were offended by those who spoke the truth. Instead of thanking God for the truth that sets free, they were offended. And instead of dealing with it, they ran and joined the growing ranks of the un-churched, a worldwide movement of those deceived and robbed of fellowship.

The Apostle Paul warned, “Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first…” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). This great “falling away” is powered by the spirit of the deceiver who is also called “the accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10c).

Pastor Oder further states:
This powerful force is causing believers to abandon their faith, not in Jesus, nor in God, but in the Church. Their loss of faith in the Church indicates, if anything, their lack of relationship with the Head of the Church, which is Christ. No one can say they love Christ while hating His Body, for Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.

Hebrews 6:4 adds that it is nigh “impossible” to restore those who have “fallen away” from the Lord. The tragedy is that they are so convinced they are right that they cannot be restored to repentance. They are the greatest losers in human history who have once tasted the heavenly gift and been partakers of the Holy Spirit.

I am greatly concerned to see this spirit of Church-bashing seep into the ranks of Christian Zionism, through people who criticize the Church, badmouth pastors, accuse Church leaders, and write books that run down the Body of Christ. The greatest danger to the Church does not come from nonbelievers, but from the spirit of deception within.

(Excerpts:The new replacement theology by Pastor Werner Oder. Please note that this article does not represent the views of the Board or staff of CFI–USA. Published for information only.)

I constantly remember you in my prayers…

God’s covenant

For centuries church fathers have overlooked the fact that God’s covenant with Israel was a permanent one. In His Word God says that if His covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth can pass away, then so can his covenant with Israel be abrogated (Jer. 33:25-26). PRAY that the eyes of believers throughout the world would be open to the errors of Replacement Theology which the Bible clearly does not teach.

Israel’s nationwide drill

On December 8, Israel held a nationwide drill simulating missile attacks on the Jewish state, just a day after a report indicating that Iran is preparing for war. Air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and across northern Israel, indicating the testing of the warning system. Meanwhile, soldiers with the Home Front Command continued a week-long exercise in southern Israel, simulating long-range missile attacks on public buildings, hospitals and schools with expected mass civilian casualties. INTERCEDE for the nation, its leaders and soldiers as they face unspeakable danger from the Prince of Persia.

Living witnesses

This year the cold season arrived earlier in Israel than in previous years. For Holocaust survivors, winters are difficult. Generally their apartments are not efficiently heated and therefore, elderly survivors must dress with multiple layers of clothing and blankets. Also, cold winters remind them of the terrible cold they endured during the Holocaust. Many of them still are tormented by memories of family members and friends who froze to death. PRAY for God’s comfort and help from ministries and individuals to ease the pain and bring assistance.
(Timothy 1:3d)

Itamar targeted again

On December 8, Arabs from the neighboring village of Akraba─equipped with metal bars, stones and other items─attacked the Jewish community Itamar. They assaulted and injured Itamar residents who were grazing a flock of sheep. When IDF troops arrived, the Arabs attacked them as well. Itamar has come under attack several times, including the killing last spring of five of the Fogel family members. CONTINUE TO PRAY for the Fogel family’s surviving two children and the entire community’s security.

Israel’s A+ credit rating

International credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s announced that it had raised Israel’s long-term credit rating from A to A+. The agency said that its decision reflected Israel’s economic growth and responsible economic policy. In August, the same company took the unprecedented step of lowering the credit rating of the U.S. (from AAA to AA+), an act that shocked the global markets. THANK the Lord for this good news about Israel’s economy in the midst of worries of the nation’s security.

Israeli flag barred from a UN celebration

There are few institutions in the world more tainted with modern anti-Semitism than the UN. One new expression of anti-Semitism is the attempt to de-legitimize Israel and deny the Jewish people their historical right to their own homeland. Once again this became crystal clear as the UN marked ”Palestinian Solidarity Day” on November 29th with the Palestinian (a non-member state) flag flying side by side with the UN flag, while the Israeli flag was nowhere to be seen.
THANK the Lord for His promises not to uproot His people ever again from their own land.

Not stealing Palestine but purchasing Israel

Dunam by dunam

Zionists stole Palestinian land! That’s the mantra both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas teach their children and propagate in their media. This claim has vast importance, as Palestinian Media Watch explains: “Presenting the creation of the state [Israel] as an act of theft, and its continued existence as an historical injustice serves as the basis for the PA’s non-recognition of Israel’s right to exist.” The accusation of theft also undermines Israel’s position internationally. But is the accusation true?

No, it is not. Ironically, the building of Israel represents about the most peaceable in-migration and state creation in history. To understand why requires seeing Zionism in context. Simply put, conquest is the historic norm. Governments everywhere were established through invasion; nearly all states came into being at someone else’s expense. No one is permanently in charge. Everyone’s roots trace back to somewhere else. The Middle East, due to its centrality and geography, has experienced more than its share of invasions, including theGreek, Roman, Arabian, Crusader, Seljuk, Timurid,Mongolian, and modern European. Within the region, dynastic froth has caused the same territory─Egypt, for example─to be conquered and reconquered. The land that now makes up Israel was no exception.

The PA fantasizes that today’s Palestinians are descended from a tribe of ancient Canaan, the Jebusites; in fact, they are overwhelmingly the offspring of invaders and immigrants seeking economic opportunities. Against\this tableau of unceasing conquest, violence and over-throw, Zionist efforts to build a presence in the Holy Land until 1948 stand out as astonishingly mild, as mercantile rather than military.

Two great empires, the Ottomans and the British, ruled the area; in contrast, Zionists lacked military power. They could not possibly achieve statehood through conquest. Instead, they purchased land. Acquiring property, dunam by dunam, farm by farm, house by house, lay at the heart of the Zionist enterprise until 1948. The Jewish National Fund─founded in 1901 to buy land in Palestine “to assist in the foundation of a new community of true Jews engaged in active and peaceable industry”─was the key institution.

Zionists also focused on the rehabilitation of what was barren and considered unusable. They not only made the desert bloom, but drained swamps, cleared water channels, reclaimed wasteland, forested bare hills, cleared rocks, and removed salt from the soil.

Only when the British mandatory power gave up on [and left] Palestine in 1948, followed immediately by an all-out attempt by Arab states to crush and expel the Zionists, did the latter take up the sword in self-defense and go on to win land through military conquest. Even then, as the historian Efraim Karsh demonstrates in Palestine Betrayed, most Arabs fled their lands. Exceedingly few were forced off. This history contradicts the Palestinian account that “Zionist gangs stole Palestine and expelled its people” (according to a PA 12th grade textbook). International organizations, newspaper editorials, and faculty petitions reiterate this falsehood worldwide.

Israelis should hold their heads high and point out that the building of their country was based on the least violent and most civilized movement of any people in history. Gangs did not steal Palestine; merchants purchased Israel [from landowners who willingly sold the land]. (Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum., www.Daniel Pipes.org).

Children with cancer

Approximately 500 Israeli children are diagnosed with cancer each year. More than 1,400 are currently under treatment. This devastating disease is the leading cause of children’s death in Israel.

Last fall an Israeli organization called Lev Malka organized a trip for Israeli children with cancer to visit the U.K., where all 31 children of the group would receive a special cancer treatment. The treatment is not available in Israel. Sadly, only a week before the trip, one of the children lost his battle for life, and another one, a young girl had her leg amputated. This girl had then lost both legs to cancer. It is heartbreaking to see what these precious children and their families face each day. Lev Malka is working tirelessly to bring healing and some normality to these children’s lives.

Because of your support to Streams of Blessing Project, we were able to give a special gift via CFI-Jerusalem to help toward the U.K. trip. Many more treatments abroad are needed to secure these children’s healing and recovery. If you would like to support the work Lev Malka is doing, please designate your gift to Streams/Lev Malka. Together we can make a difference in the lives of these children.

(Reference to Streams Hospital Project by Verek-Faye Wicks, CFI-Jerusalem. Photo: Children on a Lev Malka summer camp.