Thoughts on Corporate Intercession

Shalom friends,

The following thoughts on corporate intercession are my own and while they obviously impact my position as director of Intercessors for Israel [IFI] the rest of the leadership team may not agree with all that follows.

I have been involved with Intercessors for Israel almost from the beginning of my time in Israel in 1989. Yet even before that God guided me to lead prayer meetings and teach on intercession. I have had the privilege of being mentored by, and sitting under the teachings of, many of the great modern-day prayer warriors – most of whom are now in glory – and have learned from them and from experience what corporate intercession can look like to be very effective in seeing His kingdom come on earth. May you be challenged by what follows, and be open to hear our Good Shepherd's voice if He is speaking to you.

Continue Reading

God Challenges the Church: Do you trust what the New Testament says about the Old Testament? - Part Three

Those in the Church who reject the recognition of, and respect that the New Testament gives the Tanach (the Old Testament), usually end up with unbiblical views on many doctrines which lead to an unbiblical understanding of important current events. Obviously, much of this is in relation to the Church's view of the place of Israel in God's current plans – and much of that comes from a misunderstanding of God's essential nature which, as this teaching has previously pointed out, has its foundational revelation in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Continue Reading

God Challenges the Church: Do you trust what the New Testament says about the Old Testament? - Part Two

For those of believe that Yeshua is not only the Redeemer and Savior, but also God the Son, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the First and the Last, Lord of all, and so much more, then it should be obvious that His view of the Old Testament, the Tanach – as well as His interpretation of Tanach prophecy – is the standard against which all other views and interpretations must be measured. And if our view, or our church, our pastor or our believing friend's view is not in line with Yeshua's, clearly we are the ones who are wrong.

Continue Reading

God Challenges the Church: Do you trust what the New Testament says about the Old Testament? - Part One

Large sections of the traditional Western Church do not believe that the Jewish people and the modern nation of Israel have any part to play in the current plans of God. Some in this group believe that Jews are not saved unless they become born-again non-Jewish Christians who celebrate Jesus Christ's – Yeshua the Messiah's – birth and resurrection with a roasted pig meal!

On the other hand, born-again Christian Zionists and Messianic Jews might think about these traditional Christians something like, "If only they believed that the Old Testament (the Tanach) is still God's Word today! Then their blindness towards Israel and the Jews would be lifted as they understand the centrality of Israel's modern-day restoration and the ingathering of the Jewish people to God's land in His overall plan of worldwide redemption and in the return of His Son."

Yet there is a much more fundamental theological blindness which many of our brothers and sisters, Jewish or gentile, in Messiah are also afflicted with. That blindness is toward the New Testament's consistent and thorough witness that the Old Testament, the Tanach, is still God's Word today.

Continue Reading

Blasphemous and Dangerous - Replacement Theology and today's Church

Biblical truth gives us the foundation we need to get to know the God who saved us and to live in a way that pleases Him. Correct biblical teaching (doctrine) also enables us to identify prophetic signs in today's world. Yet for those who follow the demonic delusion known as Replacement Theology [RT], current events and their relationship to the return of Messiah Yeshua become blurry and mysterious. These people, many of whom are our brothers and sisters in Messiah, end up believing a lie…

Continue Reading

Humanism – the Last of the Giants

A number of years ago, a brother in Messiah wrote a book called The Last of the Giants, referring to Islam. Though Islam may become a part of it, I see humanism as the last of the giants that the Church must confront. As I thought more about this, I realized that humanism was the first of the giants as well…

Continue Reading

Corporate Prayer Guidelines

To be effective in corporate prayer, all participants need to agree and adhere to certain guidelines. These are the guidelines that the Intercessors for Israel team has developed through decades of experience in leading corporate prayer meetings.

If you plan on attending a corporate prayer meeting led by IFI or a member of IFI, please read these guidelines beforehand. If you have a serious issue with any of these guidelines, either speak to an IFI team member beforehand, or prayerfully consider not attending until the issue is resolved, as disunity has no place in corporate prayer.

Continue Reading

Breaking Down the Middle Wall of Partition: Confronting the man-made division between the Old and New Testament Pt.2

This two part teaching is an expansion on some questions I wrote down while preparing to speak to a group of British pastors and leaders. I knew that some in attendance did not have a solid understanding of God's plan for Israel's end-time restoration. I also knew that one of the main issues was the way many believers view the Old Testament – the Tanach – seeing it as somehow less valuable than the New Testament, or worse, no longer God's Word for them or for the world. This teaching will give believers a better grasp of these issues, supplying scriptural ammunition against some 'traditional' errors of man by which the Adversary tries to obscure the truth of God's Word.

Continue Reading

Breaking Down the Middle Wall of Partition: Confronting the man-made division between the Old and New Testament

This two part teaching is an expansion on some questions I wrote down while preparing to speak to a group of British pastors and leaders. I knew that some in attendance did not have a solid understanding of God's plan for Israel's end-time restoration. I also knew that one of the main issues was the way many believers view the Old Testament – the Tanach – seeing it as somehow less valuable than the New Testament, or worse, no longer God's Word for them or for the world. This teaching will give believers a better grasp of these issues, supplying scriptural ammunition against some 'traditional' errors of man by which the Adversary tries to obscure the truth of God's Word.

Continue Reading

Jacob's Trouble - Past or Future

Why should believers pray for and help Jewish people in the nations to make aliyah – to return to the land of Israel – if two-thirds of them are going to get slaughtered there in Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7)?

There is a current teaching in many churches and ministries that God is gathering His people back to the land and then will allow a second Holocaust – some say it will even be worse than the first – to befall them. The basis of this teaching is the belief that once the Church is raptured, then a seven year tribulation period begins (the "pre-trib rapture" teaching). At the start of this seven year period, the Anti-Christ is revealed. He signs a peace treaty with Israel, even allowing them to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. Then in the middle of this period, after three and a-half years, he breaks his treaty with Israel and starts a war against them, in which two-thirds of them die. According to this teaching, this time period is referenced in Scripture as 'Jacob's trouble', a term found only in Jeremiah 30:7.

Continue Reading

Why God Judges Nations

At Intercessors for Israel's 2013 International Prayer Conference in Jerusalem, I shared a message called "The Judgments of God" - with an emphasis on His judgments on nations today. God has used Israel in the Old Testament as an example of how He deals with national sin, especially when a nation based upon His laws rebels against Him. However, the Bible plainly states that Israel's miraculous end time restoration brings into play another factor: in the last days God judges nations according to their leaders' attitudes and actions regarding His promise to restore Israel. God has staked His reputation, His Name, on this. His whole redemptive plan now focuses on Israel being in the land that He promised to them.

Continue Reading

Prophetic Evangelism

What does it mean to “pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is written in heaven?” There are many Christians who do pray for Israel but they are only concerned about praying for the salvation of the Jewish People. When others pray for different things concerning Israel, those prayers are often criticized as being soulish or carnal. However in my mind, praying only for the salvation of Israel in broad terms does not take into consideration the steps the Lord will use to get there.

Continue Reading