Is God a Zionist? – Part 1
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December 2018 $2.25 Funeral Refused Over Selling House Defense Spending to Jews Rises in World Page 18 Ranking Page 20 Israeli Judoka Wins Gold Over 200 Iranian Page 19 Targets Struck by Israel Page 22 Is God a Israel Signs Scientific Cooperation Agreement with Zionist? Britain Page 23 – Part 1 International Digital Forum Led by Israel • Muslim Country Enters Fun Industry Celebrate 70 Years Israel with Us! In honor of Israel’s 70th birthday, the staff of Midnight Call Ministries has designed a t-shirt appropriate to show your support and love for the nation. Israel has a future like no other country in the world: “He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD” (Psalm 147:19-20). Yes, God has not dealt so with any nation in the world except Israel. Take advantage of this opportunity to celebrate 70 years of Israel in their land again. 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Black Red Cream Send check or money order to: Midnight Call Ministries • PO Box 84309 • Lexington, SC 29073 NFI1218 ❏ Check/Money Order ❏ Credit Card With credit card ready, call 800-845-2420 Online: midnightcall.com/t-shirts $10 each (plus shipping) Card#: ______________________________________ Exp. ___________Security Code:________________ Phone:______________________ ________________ SOLD OUT SOLD OUT Name: ______________________________________ Address: ____________________________________ City:______________________________________ __ SOLD OUT St/Prov:___________Zip/Postal Code:_____________ SOLD OUT Email: ______________________________________ December 2018 ISSN 1095-7901 Contents Published twelve times a year by Editor’s Note Midnight Call Ministries, Inc. 4 PO Box 84309 By Fredi Winkler Lexington SC 29073 Cover Story Physical Location: 6 4694 Platt Springs Road West Columbia, SC 29170, USA Is God a Dr. Wim Malgo (1922–1992), Founder Zionist? – Part 1 Arno Froese, Editor By Reinhold Federolf Fredi Winkler, International Editor The term “Zion” occurs Michelle Kim, Layout Designer Kimberly Farmer, Copy Editor around 160 times in the Gaby Berry, Barbara Lavery, Bible. Those who carefully Melanie Makin and Helga Tirrell, German-English Translators study the relevant passages inevitably conclude that Zion was, is, and will be Web: midnightcall.com enormously important to our God. Toll free phone: 1-800-845-2420 Local and International: +1 (803) 755-0733 12 Israel: A Very Special People –Part 26. The Roman Empire ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES: By Thomas Lieth U.S.A. $18 Canada $26.50 14 On The Horizon All other countries $38 U.S. 14 ISRAEL CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR International Digital Forum Led by Israel SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRY: 15 SAUDI ARABIA Please send your OLD and NEW address Muslim Country Enters Fun Industry when moving or when making any 18 ISRAEL inquiry about your subscription. Funeral Refused Over Selling House to Jews 19 UAE INTERNA TIONAL EDI TIONS Israeli Judoka Wins Gold 20 ISRAEL Nachrichten Aus Israel (German), Postfach Defense Spending Rises in World Ranking 290, Ringwiesenstrasse 12a CH --8600 SYRIA D¨ubendorf Switzerland • Nieuws Uit Israel 22 (Dutch), Postbus 193, 3940 AD Doorn, Over 200 Iranian Targets Struck by Israel Netherlands • Noticias de Israel (Portuguese), 23 ISRAEL/UK Caixa Postal 1688, 90001–970 Porto Alegre Israel Signs Scientific Cooperation Agreement RS, Brazil with Britain • Noticias de Israel (Spanish), PO Box 84309 Ebenezer Home Lexington, SC 29073 • Nouvelles d’Israel 24 By Dr. Faith Goldberg (French), Case Postale 290, Ringwiesenstrasse 12a CH --8600 D u¨ bendorf Switzerland Action for Israel 26 By Arno Froese Editor’s Note Dear Friends of Israel, BY FREDI WINKLER he Jewish holiday, ship heathen gods Hanukkah—which falls in by killing a Jew who T December—occurs on the was doing that, along with a Seleu - 25th of Kislev, according to the cid government official. Afterward, Jewish calendar, and lasts eight he fled with his five sons and a days. It is celebrated in remem - group of likeminded people to the brance of the dedication of the tem - desert of Judea, where they then led ple in 164 BC, after it was defiled the resistance fight. Some say that three years before when the Seleu - God must have supported this cids, who ruled over Israel at that fight, which appeared all but im - time, sacrificed a pig on the altar. possible at the beginning, so that The Seleucids tried to force the Hel - three years later the temple in lenistic culture onto the Jews. Jerusalem could be rededicated. There were even some Jews, includ - According to Biblical regulations, ing high priests, who supported the when something has become un - Hellenization of the Jews. clean, it must be cleaned for seven The armed resistance began days, and then on the eighth day is when the Seleucids attempted to considered clean again. prohibit circumcision and obser - The Hanukkah Menorah Cande - vance of the Sabbath. In the first labra has become a symbol for Book of Maccabees, 1:15-28, there these events. The eight lamps stand is a report of how the priest, Mat - for the eight days, and the ninth tathias, resisted the order to wor - lamp, the so-called shamash , or 4 “servant,” remains lit so that the of many, and led to opposition other eight lamps can be lit from it, among the people. Many historians because in earlier times there were believe that this opposition was the no matches. Another tradition says foundation of the Essene move - that the ninth lamp, which is al - ment, which we know about from ways higher than the other eight, the Dead Sea Scrolls. stands for a pitcher of sacred oil There is of course another aspect that was supposedly found as the to the story. If the Seleucids had temple was being cleaned. Accord - succeeded in destroying the Jewish ing to the story, the amount of oil in people and their temple with their the pitcher should have only lasted Hellenistic culture, then the prom - for one day, but it miraculously ise of the Messiah coming to His lasted eight days, until the priests people and His temple could not could once again prepare more sa - have been fulfilled. Thus, we can cred oil. It should be noted that this say, God must have supported the miracle is not reported in either of fight of the Maccabees, so that the the two Books of Maccabees. necessary circumstances for the Hanukkah is not a holy celebra - Messiah to come would be present. tion, like Sukkot, for example, in It wasn’t until after Jesus, the Son which the first and last days are of God came and fulfilled every - holy days, and like a Sabbath with thing that was written about Him, its strict rules. It is thus more of a that the temple and the city of folk festival and is today mostly Jerusalem were destroyed, as God celebrated for children, as a day prophesied in Daniel 9:26. when they don’t attend school. Always fascinated at how God “Power corrupts,” so they say, watches over His Word to ensure and that occurred later in the Mac - its fulfillment, in the past and up to cabees. They elevated themselves to the present day, high priests and kings in one per - Shalom, son, which was something that they didn’t deserve, in the opinion DECEMBER 2018 5 Cover Story Is God a Zionist? – Part 1 For some, this provocative topic is on par with the impossible question of whether or not the devil can be saved. But that shouldn’t stop us from getting to know the God of the Bible better. “But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God” (Acts 5:39). 6 Cover Story BY REINHOLD FEDEROLF hat is “Zionism?” Ukraine. His poem Tikvatenu Zionism is the term (“Our Hope”) initially became Wused to describe a a well-known Zionist song. When modern political movement, the first stanza was chosen as the whose goal was and is to bring national anthem of the newly- Jewish people back to the land formed state of Israel in 1948, of their ancestors. The movement the text expressing the desire to gained more and more traction return to Zion was modified. The toward the end of the 19th cen - anthem makes it clear that the tury, primarily because of dis - concerns of Zionism go beyond crimination, persecution, and the purely political and include extermination. The horrors of a religious longing: the Holocaust compelled people As long as in the heart, to be sympathetic to the return within, of the Jews to their own state, at A Jewish soul still yearns, least for a few years. And onward, towards the The Israeli national anthem, ends of the east, Hatikva (“The Hope”), is a pos - an eye still gazes toward itive reinterpretation of Ezekiel’s Zion; vision of the valley of dry bones: Our hope is not yet lost, “Our hope is lost” (Ezek 37:11). The hope two thousand years The text is taken from a poem old, with nine stanzas by Naftali Herz To be a free nation in our Imber (1856-1909), who was land, born in a part of the former Aus - The land of Zion and trian Empire that is now part of Jerusalem. Visit midnightcall.com DECEMBER 2018 7 Is God a Zionist? Part 1 “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east…and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” Is Christian Zionism a dangerous of land in the New Testament!” heresy? We often hear statements The problem is that there is a lack like, “Fundamentalists impede the of understanding in many circles ‘peace process!’” Or, “Bias toward concerning what the term “Zion” Israel makes it difficult to evangelize includes, though this term occurs Muslims.