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despite the October 7 Gaza war!

This summer, I was challenged to consider signing the New Covenant as a representative on behalf of the Netherlands, during the ‘Welcoming the King of Glory’ conference in Jerusalem in October 2023. This conference is a follow-up to the one in Nazareth in December 2019, in which I also participated as an observer. A conference that has its roots in a meeting of representatives from the Pacific with Messianic leaders in Israel. In addition, in order to prepare, each country first had to draw up a ‘Divorce Decree’, in which they renounce false covenants, that have been entered into in the past. (See my previous blog). Despite mediation by Milo Siilata, the representative from Samoa, our application turned out to be premature for an already full program. In order to be able to prepare myself well for a possible follow-up later, I thought I had to go anyway by applying for special leave from my job as a teacher. After all, this 3-day conference would start on a Wednesday a week before the autumn holidays. Right on the first day at school after the summer holidays, I met a new colleague who was willing to fill in for me! In retrospect, I am happy to have booked my flight on Tuesday 10 October with ELAl. After all, when Hamas suddenly invaded Israel with horror and dismay on Saturday, October 7, the question was: a) whether the conference would still take place and b) there would be a flight to Israel at all. That confirmation finally arrived just in time. (Flights with other airlines were canceled.)

Once at Schiphol, I did get a phone call from ELAL itself, asking if I was really going. Otherwise, they could take even more reservists with them. It was therefore not surprising that I departed from Schiphol only after a considerable delay. At the check-in desk, a young lady was bold enough to ask me, what I was actually going to do in Israel. I told her briefly about this international conference. She asked: Is it possible to sign a covenant with God? So I started talking about Abraham etc. and told her the URL of my blog that she wrote down after she told me that she was Islamic herself and was very curious.

When we arrived at Ben Gurion, it was dark and no one from the organization was to be seen. As a precaution in this war, the trains were no longer running and there was no shuttle bus either at that hour. While I was still doubting, it was a taxi driver who helped me out of my dream: “Don’t you know that Israel is at war?” After all, I had no choice, but to take a taxi to my hotel near the Gate of Jerusalem. Fortunately, it turned out that I had just withdrawn enough money for that taxi ride. During the ride, he watched and listened to Joe Biden’s speech, that Biden had just given. It was unexpectedly very encouraging for the Jewish people. Later, I came  across This video clip in which Asher Intrater analyzes this speech.

We were accommodated as participants in different hotels. I was accommodated in the Jerusalem Gate Hotel, where I had been many times before and still have many special memories. I had to switch between déjà vu on the one hand and on the other hand, the question what are all these Jewish families here with their children running around, without recognizing anyone?

After turning on the WIFI connection at my hotel room, I read a message from my friend Paul Jaeger asking, “where are you now?” I knew that he was also going to Jerusalem, but for the summit “Toward Jerusalem Council II”, that would take place a week later. He went on to say: “Since the state of war has been declared and 300,000 reservists have been called up, social life has largely come to a standstill, especially in the hospitality industry and business. The leadership of TJCII has moved the Jerusalem Summit to next year. For the time being, we will keep a week of fasting and prayer. Will the Welcoming the king of glory take place?” I was somewhat unpleasantly surprised by this, because I had made an effort to be in touch with the representatives from the Netherlands in an informal way. However, I was glad that Paul had managed to reach Israel, as I had understood that his flight had fitst run aground in Istanbul.

I then first went out to explore to check out the familiar neighborhood for its changes, hoping that there would be still something open to get some food. It took a while, but eventually, to my great surprise, I came across a Kosher Asian Wok outlet.

It wasn’t until breakfast in the morning, that I met the first other participants of the conference: a group of Maori from New Zealand with whom I had a very pleasant acquaintance.

Reception on Wednesday 11 October

I also had some very fond memories of the Call-building, the location where we met, including meetings and songs from the King of Kings congregation, but also because of the Abraham hostel across the street from the Davidka light rail stop. Not to mention the office and prayer room on the top floor of Chuck Cohen of Intercessors for Israel, that I wanted to see again.

Due to security measures, we were accommodated in different rooms of up to 50 people, each with a live connection.

Introduction Avi Mizrachi
In his opening speech, Mizrachi was the first to say: “This is not a conference, where we have a normal list of speakers and everyone knows exactly what to do. This is not a conference. This is a gathering of the one new man to pray and intercede and worship the King of glory. I’ll say it again: a gathering of the one new man to pray, intercede, and worship the King of glory. WTOKG is a prophetic prayer movement. It’s not an organization, it’s not an institution, it’s organic, it’s a living prayer movement. Then he talks about his wife Chaja, who had undergone surgery on her spine on September 28, then 2 weeks ago, The doctors had told her that she was not allowed to move. Avi then cancelled all his meetings and all his appointments and said that his priority was his wife. He regrets that he was not present to answer all kinds of questions. Yet he is here now, because a miracle happened and God healed her back and he was able to take her to a rehabilitation center in Tel Aviv “yesterday.”

Avi gave a fascinating look back at the origins of this third conference of WTKOG. It goes back to a meeting with one Jeff from Australia at a conference in 2015, who gave him a boomerang and said: that the gospel has come out of Jerusalem and has arrived in my country, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands and all the islands in the Pacific, and now I am bringing it back to you, because the gospel has gone out and now it is back here and we are here to stand beside you to worship the Lord. The following year, in June 2016, he met George Annadorai from Singapore, who was touring with a group, met a few Israelis and said, “listen, we of the distant Pacific islands want to come and worship next year 2017 at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Balfour Declaration and the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem.” I said okay, whatever, that’s fine, he said yes, but we want you to organize this! I said I don’t know anything about that, so we agreed on October 20, 2016, which is seven years ago. I met Jeff and his wife Jenny in Caesarea and we had a great meeting at a restaurant and I. agreed, I said okay, you know what, let’s have a meeting between the Jewish pastors and you bring some of the islands in the Pacific. Let’s meet on February 14, 2017 in Tel Aviv in our prayer tower. Then they said in October it’s Sukkot. Then we want to come to the Feast of Tabernacles and worship the Lord with you. Avi then said: Go ahead, do a conference, send us an invite, we’ll come”. However, they said, “No, no, no, you don’t understand, you have to be the host, you are the local Israelis, you are the host, you need to organize this and invite us.” And I looked at the other Israeli leaders and said we don’t have a budget.

Avi then said to Milo, “If we, the Israelis, feel like we can’t do that, we can’t organize this and increase the budget and do something like this, organize a conference like this, do you still want to hold your conference like many Christians do?  The burly Milo then stood up and said, “If you don’t invite us, we won’t come. That was very clear. I said, okay, we’ll pray and get back to you. Not realizing that in that culture nothing happens without the knowledge or decision of a Firstborn, a concept that we in the West have lost.

It wasn’t until a meeting on March 14, 2017 in Tiberias that Avi was told: “Yes, this is of Me”. On April 18, this happened again, following a message in Matt. 2 Concerning the wise men from the East, who saw a Star, came to Jerusalem, to the leaders of Jerusalem, and to King Herod, and said that they had come to Jerusalem to worship the king with all the Jerusalemites! When the locals asked why are you coming now, they had apparently missed something of God’s timing! Avi then realized, that maybe these are the wise people from the Far East who come to wake us up and we all felt: yes, this is from God, remember guys, we all felt that this was from God! In August 2017, when they were looking for a location for 700 registered participants without organization and staff, it turned out that all places were already taken and Kibbutz Ramat Rachel,  after an initial agreement, reneged on it due to pressure from orthodox religious, who threatened to revoke the stamp of Kosher. It was just like when the inn was full when Joseph and Mary were looking for a place. That eventually became a sports center in Abu Gush, not far from the place where the Ark in Kiryat Yearim was picked up after 3 months. (Read 1 Chronicles 13:10 and 15:2). Avi was inspired by this during a day of fasting, to go back after David had messed up the first time, to now without haste by having the Levites carry the Ark to carry it to Zion at a walking pace, while they worshipped the Lord. They were warmly welcomed by the mayor.

The day before, the Jewish leaders had a very important ceremony at the port of Jaffa, for Peter went from Jerusalem to the port of Jaffa to raise Tabita from the dead (Acts chapter 10), and then they had a Revival. Until then, only Jews came to salvation, there were no Gentiles, only Jews. Then God gave Peter a vision, with a sheet of wild beasts and a voice that says not to call anyone unclean, after which he went to Caesarea and the first non-Jews were saved and baptized. Therefore, they held a ceremony in the port of Jaffa, where the locals welcomed the nations.

In December 2018 when there was talk of a new meeting, Avi had a dream: “I was in Galilee in an Arab village and the people there opened their houses and there was such hospitality and food and everything and I said, I don’t know why I said this, but I feel like we should go to Galilee”. All our brethren from Galilee remember Nauma of Nazareth, R. Claude of Tiberius, Karen Davis of the Carmel congregation. All the Galileans, all the people from the north said yes, it’s time for you to come to Galilee and we said okay and that’s where we made the motion to gather for the work of the king of glory in Nazareth in December 2019.

Avi ended his historical retrospective with a look ahead: “Let me share this, the groom is waiting for his bride. You know, someone told me and I said this is so true. The world is raging and preparing for war, but heaven and the king of the universe are preparing a wedding; the wedding of the Lamb and we join the bridegroom King Yeshua and we prepare, because God wants to have a bride without spot and wrinkle and the bride, whether you like it or not, has a Jewish side and a non-Jewish side and together we make the one new person,  so whether you like it or not, we’re stuck together forever, Hallelujah.”

In the meantime, I tried to recognize all kinds of people, such as a couple from Australia and Tony Sperandeo. After this first session, I asked Tony if he had met a man from Papua and an older white lady. And if he had! He then helped me find them in the main hall:

Benjamin Berger – We are on a long journey…

In the afternoon, Benjamin Berger opened with the following solemn words: “There is a journey that began about 2,000 years ago, it began here in Jerusalem and it has been a long pilgrimage, a very long pilgrimage, many stations, many places where wonderful things happened, stations where not such wonderful things happened, and we – it is moving in a circle and now it is coming back to Jerusalem – we are experiencing in this movement at the Welcoming the king of glory, that we  are an alpha and omega movement. The beginning and the end meet. Not only do we meet together. We walk together. We walk together towards a goal. A wonderful, wonderful goal. A goal that has been prepared by our wonderful God, our beautiful Messiah, and the glorious Holy Spirit even before the foundation of the world. And we really want to understand more deeply what the Lord is preparing for us and where we are going. We are now living at a moment in Israel’s history that is unlike anything we have ever experienced. We’ve been through wars, we’ve been through a lot of suffering, but we’ve never experienced anything like what we’re experiencing now, there’s a lot of sadness in the country. There are a lot of people who are asking big questions, questions who don’t understand what is happening, there is a battle going on on earth and in heaven there is a mighty battle and not only in Israel but all over the world, but Israel is a focal point and what is happening here will affect all of humanity and we feel that when we who live here,  We feel that whatever happens here, like throwing a stone into the water, and there’s rings that go out and cover the whole earth, and cover the whole earth. So what is happening today is not only a local thing, it is local, it is here, but it has consequences that are global and because it is part of the plan of God, we are experiencing that the demonic forces are being released, but there is also a great battle taking place in heaven between Michael, as mentioned,  and his angels against the dragon. This is now in heaven and we are part of that battle and we are marching together towards the goal. Satan will in no way be able to stop or hinder what God has done since the foundation of the world. I actually want to focus today on what it means that we are heading towards Jerusalem. We are in Jerusalem, but we are moving spiritually towards a goal  and we need to understand that purpose  and I want to read a few texts from Exodus, this is from the song of Moses and we remember that Israel was in slavery in Egypt for 400 years. That’s a long time, but God promised salvation and it came, especially through his servant Moses. We remember the story of Israel, who finally left Egypt and came towards the Red Sea and suddenly realized that they could not go any further and the people began to complain: perhaps it would have been better to die in Egypt, than to go to this place, where the Egyptians are coming after us and we cannot go any further and the Lord speaks to Moses and tells him to his staff about the sea and proclaim the salvation of God.

Exodus 15:16 Terror and fear fell upon them. Because of the greatness of Your arm, they fell silent like a stone, while Your people, YHVH, passed through, while this people, whom You have acquired, passed through. 17 Thou shalt bring them and plant them on the mountain that is thy property, Thy permanent dwelling place, which Thou hast made, YHVH, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thou hast established. 18 YHVH will reign forever and ever!

It was his desire to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, to establish God’s Throne among the cherubim of His resting-place. From there, He will expand His Kingdom. It was also in Jerusalem here that YHVH re-erected the tabernacle of David at Pentecost, as described in Acts 2. The place where Yeshua was crucified and rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven and the Ecclesia (the house of God) began: the foundation of apostles and prophets; the standard for holiness and unity, to which the faithful of the nations could also join. This all happened during the time when the Romans still ruled there. After Bar Kochba’s revolt against Hadrian, the diaspora lasted until 1947 when the United Nations recognized that the Jews needed a homeland. Even now there is a remnant among the nations that recognizes that there is a calling to the Jewish people and the Land. God is restoring this HOUSE (not churches) in the place where it was born: Yerushalajim! Notice the plural: a heavenly and an earthly Jerusalem! We here and you of the nations were all born in Zion! What about the Temple? Yes, the one of the living stones, subjects of our King who wants to come Home! “We’re looking for His homecoming, for Zion,” and will say, “This is the Bride in whom I am well pleased.” Notice what Zechariah 6:12 says: “Say to him [High Priest Joshua the son of Jehozadak]: Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, a Man  – His name is Diamond – will come up out  of His place, and He will build the temple of YHVH. 13 Yes, He will build the temple of YHVH, He himself will be clothed with majesty, He will sit and reign on His throne. He will be a priest on His throne; peace counsel will take place between the two. That is the purpose before the second coming of the Lord, there are many believers who say, well, Jerusalem has nothing prophetic to say to us, until the Lord returns, then there is a millennium and the Lord’s kingship. No, there is something that God wants to complete in the restoration of all things before the Lord’s return. He wants a bride to be ready to welcome him when he comes down from heaven. So there is something that we need to fulfill in the purposes of God before the second coming of the Lord. Then the Lord will establish His Messianic kingdom, and the Lord will sit on the throne of David and be worshipped in Israel and in Jerusalem. The world will recognize it, it will be the world capital, and the blessing of God, the kingdom of God will spread. This is what we are called to do.

Thursday 12 October

Speech by Reuven Berger on the parable of the wicked vinedressers or bad tenants (Matt.21:33-46)[1] about God’s broken heart over the broken covenant. God calls us to prepare the way of the Lord and to heal the broken altar in Jerusalem against which we have transgressed and which we have wounded as a people by rejecting our King and Messiah. When we look at the history of the people of Israel, the chastening hand of God on our people becomes very clear for generations, and to understand the depths of this restoration we must also understand something of the suffering of both the Lord Yeshua and that of Israel. the people of Israel and that you are doing a work of deep healing and reconciliation.  We are very thankful for our brethren, who have come a long way and are paying a price right now, not only in dollars, but in sacrifice in love as a true expression of what will have to happen in the end times before the Nations truly stand with Israel in the truth. We need the support of our Brothers and we very much appreciate you being here with us, as has been said several times.

Reuven Berger spoke of the parable of the wicked farmers (Matt. 21:23ff) “… Finally, he sent his son to them, saying that they would respect my son, but when the farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and confiscate his inheritance, and they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those farmers? They said to him, “He will destroy those evildoers miserably and rent out his vineyard to other vine-growers, who will give him the fruits of their vineyard in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read that the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This has been done by the Lord, and it is wonderful in our sight.” That is why I say to you, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation that bears the fruits of it. Whoever falls on this Stone will be broken, but whoever he falls on will grind him into powder.” When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parable, it was noticed that He was speaking to them, but when they tried to seize Him, they feared the masses of people, because they considered Him a prophet.
How can Israel get to her destiny when the Heir has been cast spoil from His vineyard? After all, Paul said: we are heirs through the redemption of the Messiah. God has a controversy with Zion and the Nations. The Kingdom will be taken away and given to another people! Which? That of the apostles with their 12 gates! Today’s restored Israel is out of its cocoon; She’s not a caterpillar anymore. The new spiritual Israel is the same Israel. It has been pride and arrogance of the churches to think and claim to be the heir themselves. God wants us to help Israel in this time of restoration. God used humanist Zionism and rabbinic Judaism, but it is not the true foundation. We want to heal the breach and seal it in heaven with what we are going to do. We confess that we have cast You out of the Vineyard and have seized the inheritance ourselves. We are not only coming back to our country, but also to our Home.

Proclamation of the New Covenant

For the full text, see: https://partnersinprayer.org.au/messianic-believers-re-covenant-at-the-gathering-of-the-nations-to-welcome-the-king-of-glory/ or download it here as a PDF.

Report and update by Michael Beener from Sderot

Michael and Dina Beener work as remigrated Russian Messianic Jews in Sderot. They gave an update on the situation there. They lead the work of the City of Life church. See also https://www.clm-israel.org/ and https://www.comitegemeentehulpisrael.nl/artikelen/9551/michael-beener.html

Asher Intrater’s Message on the Glorified Woman of Revelation 12

Asher Intrater: “You are all either totally humble or totally bold, and we all just want to receive that from you. When I spoke to some of the leaders yesterday, the day before, we as Jews and also as Arabs were very proud of our deal as a tribe and with the covenant, but you all seem to have understood it intuitively better than we did and we thank you for bringing back our own heritage, our own heritage and it is really amazing,  that you have also taken the trouble to come. I know some of you have been stopped along the way, people have taken 30 to 40 hours to get here, some even more, so we just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Amen and amen.

Asher, founder of the Revive Israel Foundation and Tikkun Global, had it on his heart to convey three points, regarding the Tikkun Global. Revelation 12, praying, “may God birth it into us.”

1. The position of the woman, standing on the moon, clothed with the sun (glory): Jew and Christian (non-Jew) in embrace of each other in the ecclesia.
2. The War with the Dragon
3. Salvation and Revival

https://revive.nl/asher-intrater-deelt-inzichten-in-oorlogsspanningen-israel-het-gaat-niet-om-politieke-steun-aan-israel-er-is-een-geestelijke-strijd/ May 12, 2023There is also a lot of sin in the Israeli government. Especially in the current government, there are many forces that attack us as Messianic Jews. So it is not about political support for Israel. It’s about spiritual support. It’s a spiritual battle. The fact that the land of Israel exists today is a fulfillment of more than 35 prophecies in the Old and New Testaments.

That is why the global community of Islamic Jihadism is out to stop and destroy Israel. And they want to stop Arab Christians just as much as they want to stop Jews and Messianic Jews. That is the attack at stake here. We have to see through this.”

Interestingly for me, I later came across this message from Asher Intrater: EXAMINING BIDEN’S SPEECH, the speech I was able to follow in Ben Gurion’s taxi to my hotel in Jerusalem: https://news.kehila.org/author/asherintrater/
 In spiritual warfare, we are both humble and bold. How is that possible? In a military war, there are rules for engagement. What does that mean? Asher gives an update on the war in Israel here, and he explains how waging war affects the promise of peace. Watch. Involve them. Pray.

Prayer and intercession with Rick Ridings, founder of Succat Hallel

In Israel And The World with Rick Ridings , he shares his insights directly from the heart of Jerusalem. Rick is the founder of Succat Hallel, a 24/7 prayer room made up of Jewish, Arab, and other non-Jewish believers who pray day and night overlooking the Temple Mount. He is internationally recognized for his leadership in prayer and is also one of those who helps facilitate reconciliation between Arabs and Jews – especially among the younger generation in Israel.

In the afternoon, several countries signed the New Covenant Declaration that they had drawn up. This was also the case for Papua & Papua New Guinea, which came together on stage as: “Papua New Beginnings”, a term that Iris Bouwman had received on her heart: to see the relationship of countries mainly from the perspective of His Kingdom.

Friday 13 October

The conference ended with a few more presentations and a Communion service to finally say goodbye to each other.
To find out exactly where the apartment in Na’chalot was, where Iris and Moshe were staying, I walked with them. After all, I would spend a few more days with them, waiting and praying how the coming week would be filled.

In the evening I had an appointment with Andrey Gelbet at an IBIS hotel, near Jaffa Street. We were both surprised to see each other again. During the conference in Nazareth we had discovered that we had mutual friends in the Netherlands. He had met Mr. and Mrs. Schaap at a Bible school in Cyprus and knew her from my school days. They now manage the Petach Tikva campsite, near Westerbork. He wanted to talk to me again about what I had told him about the Gospel of John in particular (about that one verse 6:4 that was added later, so that we all wrongly started to believe that Yeshua’s ministry on earth lasted 3.5 years instead of 70 weeks). He tells me that in the meantime, in addition to being a guide, he had now also enrolled in a special course in archaeology.

Sabbath, October 14

Instead of attending a Sabbath service, there was a makeshift service in turn at Succat Hallel, near Abu Tor, which gives a beautiful view over the temple area of Jerusalem.

Day 3 of the War in Israel Government watch Succat Hallel with Rick and Patricia Ridings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=E4H_56uK9Zs War Day 15 Prayer Update from Rick Ridings in Jerusalem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=xWie7-Yany4

We were dropped off at the Jaffa Gate, near Christ Church, which was still open for a coffee and cake. Soon my friend Paul Jaeger arrived on the spot, and we had a nice exchange of each other’s experiences. Afterwards, on this Sabbath, we took a walk through an almost deserted Old City, where I had not been four years ago. So I mainly looked at the differences: at what I hadn’t seen before or what was new.

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[1] https://www.joods-christelijke-dialoog.nl/index.php/34-voorpagina-evangelien/voorpagina-matheus/340-matteues-21-23-32