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When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden He told him about two trees. One was the tree of life, the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eat of the first and live, was the promise. Eat of the second and die, was the warning. When Eve ate the fruit of the second tree, Adam, evidently being near enough to overhear what was going on between her and the snake, didn’t try to stop her. He even joined her as we know. The consequences, as it turned out, were dire. At that moment, they died. Spiritually. Immediately divested of the Glory of God, they were poisoned by guilt and fear. We, their children, have inherited their spiritual poison.

Some see the tree of life as symbolic of Yeshua who tells us that we must “eat” of Him. He is the Bread of Life and we are to remember Him whenever we partake of bread. To His Hebrew followers this would not have meant a monthly symbolic ritual, but at every meal when the blessing was said over the bread before eating.

Likewise, for every cup of wine or juice at every meal, Jewish people would and still do bless God for the “fruit of the vine.” Everyday, whenever you eat or drink, remember Me, He was saying. In remembering that Yeshua became a “curse” for us on the cross, we may live eternally. This is something to be thankful for, even at every meal.

If Yeshua was the tree of life, what about the other tree? It looked and tasted good but it turned bitter inside and changed Adam and Eve from loving God to fearing Him, from fellowshipping with God to fleeing from Him. It put them outside of knowing God as they had just minutes before.

Though they experienced immediate spiritual death, it took them 900 years to die physically. As their progeny, we too will all die. But thank God we can each re-choose the right tree—Yeshua—and have the chance to reverse Adam’s mistake.

Yeshua gave us a new commandment that summed up all of Torah and the prophets: Love one another. As has been said, “The church should be the first place you see people loving each other but often it’s the last.” Why is that?

One of Sid’s guests, Larry Huch, asked God the same question. He got an answer! God showed him a curse is on the church brought about by the (post-apostolic) early (Gentile) church “fathers” who turned the church away from its Hebrew roots.

By A.D. 325 the church leaders had outlawed the people who gave us our Bible, our history, our prophets, our heritage, and our Savior! They even “converted” Yeshua so He too was no longer Jewish. He was de-circumcised—considered no longer a part of God’s covenant with Israel—and excommunicated from Israel by those outside of Israel so that Israel no longer recognized Him as one of their own. Nothing could be further from the truth than a non-Jewish Messiah.

Back to the two trees. Eating of one tree brings blessings while eating of the other brings a curse. Clear distinction, right? But to Adam and Eve it didn’t seem to matter. They thought it would be, well, okay. What did “die” mean anyway? But it wasn’t okay. To disregard what God warns of is to suffer the consequences, even if we don’t think there will be any.

God gives another “warning” in His Word that carries with it serious consequences. It has to do with Abraham and his descendants. Back when God called Abraham as the father of faith, He made him a promise that still holds today. “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Genesis 12:3). The Hebrew literally says, “bound in a curse” by God Himself. When the Almighty says if you do this I will personally curse you…. Tremble! Tremble!

The word “curse” in Hebrew means: to bring into contempt, curse, despise, afflict, esteem lightly, or revile. Wow, that sounds like a short history lesson on the church and the Jews.

Israel, it would seem, is like both trees in the garden. How you regard Israel is equal to which tree you partake of—the tree of blessing or the tree being cursed by God. If you bless Israel and the Jewish people, God will see to it that you are blessed. However, curse, despise, afflict, esteem lightly, or revile Israel and you are under a curse from God. If you believe the Word is true, then you have to accept Genesis 12:3 as true. God staked His sovereign reputation on the ultimate destiny of that one nation. The only reason Israel exists is to prove that God is true and His Word never fails. (See Jeremiah 31:35-37.)

If the church “fathers” misunderstood the place of Israel in God’s plan, we who are their spiritual children, as Pastor Huch points out, have inherited the curse God put upon the church for how she has treated Israel. As Huch puts it, “The synagogue did not kick the Christians out, the Christians kicked the Jews out.”

Perhaps you only think about Israel when you have a current events discussion with your friends or when you decide what news network to watch. It may not really matter to you what goes on “over there.” But IT MATTERS!

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was one of information, of judging what was good or not good. The NEWS today is saturated with the knowledge of good and evil according to men’s thinking. The name NEWS means information from the North, East West and South. The media tells us what is happening in every direction but from above. It never tells us what God is doing, only what the devil is causing men to do to one another in his pursuit to overthrow God. That is what wars with Israel or persecuting Jews are always about—a spiritual battle at its very core. Loving Israel isn’t a matter of agreeing with her politically, but of loving what God loves.

How are we to come out from under the curse the church has been under? We can repent. As people of God we can repent for where we, our families, including past generations, and the church have held Israel in contempt in any way or have spoken curses against the Jewish people. We can repent for any unloving attitudes or actions we’ve personally had toward Jewish people, even in jest. We must come out of agreement with the anti-Semitic theology that’s affected the church for centuries.

Even when we are not in any way intending to speak against the Jewish people, we live in an environment that does. Throughout Scripture, God holds accountable as having committed the sin those who “agree with those who do.”

Like the two trees in the garden, Israel stands before each of us. We can join what may be an increasing number in the world that eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil who will assess Israel as evil and be sure they are right. Or we can side with God and believe His Word that though the world comes against her, those who bless Israel He will bless. Israel is the true apple of God’s eye.

It may be that in the near future, much of the world will eat of the other tree and be quick to persecute those who eat of the tree of God’s blessings. You would be wise to make spiritual decisions now as to whose side you are on so as not to be caught unaware in a moment when you are faced with the choice. It will come.

Pray this prayer with me:

Abba, all wise and merciful one, I come to You in the Name of Yeshua. I ask by the power of His blood, that You forgive me for whatever unloving thing I have ever said or agreed with about the Jews. I ask you to break the curses from me and my family and forgive us and our past generations all the way back on both sides for any unkindness toward the Jewish people. Turn the curses to blessings. Release us from the curse of speaking against Israel. Forgive the church for cursing Israel and remove the curse that has been upon her for centuries. Bless Israel and release her from any word curses spoken against her. Let Your glory come upon Israel once again. Abba, help us to know Yeshua in Spirit and in truth, that Israel would see and be jealous and come to know her God. Amen.

Lonnie Lane is Producer and Int’l. Prayer Co-Coordinator for Messianic Vision.

Dear Mishpochah,

Hezbollah, the terrorist organization in Lebanon, has recruited 2,000 children to form an armed militia. Many are barely ten years old. The children are selected based on one criterion: they must be willing to become martyrs.

Hezbollah will be in a win-win situation regarding Israel. If the child with a backpack jammed with explosives succeeds, many innocent Israelis will die. If an Israeli soldier shoots a young man with a backpack and it turns out he was not carrying explosives, the world will be outraged against Israel.

This was the same strategy used in the recent conflict in Lebanon. Hezbollah waged their war with local Lebanese citizens who were forced to be human shields. If Hezbollah kills Jews, that is a victory. If the Jews fight back and in so doing kill Lebanese civilians, that’s a victory. If they don’t fight back because they are afraid to hit civilians, that’s a victory.

As Hezbollah is preparing for round two, Hamas in Gaza is also arming for war. Every kind of weapon is being imported into the Gaza Strip and Hamas is establishing one of the best-equipped terrorist armies in the world. For the last decade, terrorists have been stocking Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) with weapons. And we know Iran and Syria are the sources. Worse yet, Russia is providing the know-how. Iran has Russian scientists at its side as it develops nuclear bombs. The ultimate goal is the destruction of Israel. If these militant Islamists are not stopped, they will have the weapons to murder millions of Jews worldwide.

Obviously Ezekiel 38 and 39 is rapidly approaching. Ezekiel specifically mentions Iran (Persia) and Russia (Gog, Meshech and Tubal) and other Moslem countries as allies in this invasion of Israel.

But what must happen before this great war? Read the previous chapter, Ezekiel 37. The dry bones of the Jewish people are infused with the breath of God and are born again into new life. This Jewish revival is happening now!

This is why the devil has increased the hatred of Jews worldwide. Jew haters have been emboldened as a result of Hezbollah holding its own against the once invincible Israeli military.

Attacks on Jews in England have soared. Last month there were 92 anti-Semitic incidents. In Montreal, Canada, masked men threw a fire bomb at the door of an Orthodox Jewish school. Even the U.S. State Department (historically pro-Arab) issued a report warning that the problem of anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union is becoming more serious. The number and severity of incidents are up sharply. I have been flooded with e-mails describing horrible acts of violence against Jews.

One e-mail reported of an anti-Semitic sign at a Moscow bus stop. The sign said:

Eighty-percent of Russia’s wealth is in the hands of Jews. Two million Russians die every year. There are 4,500,000 orphans. THIS IS KIKE [Jewish] FACISM! Russian! Liberate the native land from KIKE FACISM!

What can we do about this rapidly approaching Jewish apocalypse? We must pray for the peace of Jerusalem and WE MUST EVANGELIZE THE JEW NOW!

We have only about 44,000 copies of my Russian evangelistic book, They Thought for Themselves, left for mailing to Russian Jewish homes. (We have ordered another 50,000 copies). This was the book that I was instructed by God in a dream to write. We have printed and distributed this book to more than 500,000 people worldwide—most of them Jewish!

There is a major Jewish region outside Moscow for which we have a list of 70,000 names and addresses. Our mailing cost is 80 cents per book. I have instructed our St. Petersburg, Russia office to mail our inventory to 44,000 families. Unlike America, the entire Russian households read the entire book.

We are simultaneously preparing a large evangelistic advertising campaign in Israel. As you know, our key Jewish outreach book is also in Hebrew and our television show, It’s Supernatural!, is in 98% of the homes in Israel in prime time! We telecast into Israel four times per week. Our unique television show is the most effective way to reach Jewish people. But we must direct Jewish people in Israel to watch the show. This is why we are designing an Israeli newspaper advertising campaign.

We have the strategy, tools and mandate from God to reach the Jew. Since we are debt free, all your money will be used for Jewish evangelism. If not now, when?

Shalom and Love,