Predestination - Homily of Fr Jessie

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (July 24, 2011)
My brothers and sisters in Christ,
In our first reading today we heard about a man who made a good start toward the kingdom. His name was Solomon and ruled Israel after David. In a dream Solomon was offered anything he desired. He could have asked for wealth or triumph over his enemies, but he did not. He asked God for an understanding heart to judge his people and to distinguish right from wrong. It was a beautiful desire and it pleased God.

Solomon, however, was not able to carry on till the end. He got involved in lustful practices and he allowed foreign gods into Jerusalem. Solomon began a process of decline that required prophets to get them back on the right track. So, we can see in Solomon a man given the gift of wisdom, but then not carrying through to the end.

The second reading for today speaks about predestination.  Predestination is not understood as like a god who predestined Solomon to sin and eventually would perish to hell.  God could not be good and at the same time predestine some people to sin and hell. In our Catechism of the Catholic Church 1037 we read: "God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end.” It is truly not correct to think that we cannot choose good or evil; this has been chosen for us. Like Solomon, we cannot go around blaming the things that happen in our life to fate. Nor can we blame the devil as in “The devil made me do it".  We have to take responsibility for our own actions.  Even if something negative happens to us beyond our control, like sickness, we have the ability to use this situation to progress ourselves in virtue and glorify the Lord.  As St. Paul tells to the Romans, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Though it is also true that we have the ability to allow a difficult situation to destroy us but if we choose what is true and good then we are allowing God's predestination to take its effect among us.

Predestination is God's choice to share his love with us.  St. Paul tells the Romans that we are called to share the image of God's Son.  By sharing this image we are justified from our sinfulness, raised up to the life of God, and glorified with Him.  To put all this simply: we are predestined to share God's goodness, but we have the freedom to reject this goodness. 

Three aspects of God's kingdom are highlighted in today’s Gospel reading: the necessity of recognizing its ultimate value, the necessity of responding with total commitment, and the possibility of rejecting the gift of eternal life that it brings. Though we are predestined to share God’s goodness but if we fail to recognize its value and to respond with total commitment, we will soon suffer the pain of its loss.

Jesus offers us hidden treasure: his very self. We may have made a down payment on the hidden treasure, but what had happened to Solomon can possibly happen to us because unlike St. Francis or Mother Teresa, we have not yet sold all. Still, it is good to make the down payment…for if we trust in Jesus, he will help us complete the purchase. Make no mistake, the price is everything.


Puji Tuhan! Alleluia.

Matthew 5: 43 - 48. LOVE.

Matthew 5: 43 - 48. LOVE. 22 June 2011

1. The Gospel open with this verse
[43] "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

That is something that just come naturally to us. Those that are close to us, those that are like us, they are the ones we love. But our enemies - our natural response is to hate them.

Enemy is someone Who is Not Worthy of Our Love?

By human standards, there are some people who are just not worthy of our love. They don’t deserve it, and so they don’t get. That’s the way it works.

2. But Jesus has a different approach
[44] But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

God’s standard is different from human standards. Instead of asking, “Who is not worthy of your love?” God asks, “Who do you love who’s not worthy?” An enemy does not deserve your love, but God says to love him anyway.

Just what does it mean to love your enemy? These days love often gets defined as just an emotion, a feeling. But love in the Bible goes well beyond how you feel about something. It is a decision, sometimes a decision to do something opposite to what you feel like doing.

3. I’d like you to listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 which we often hear in the context of loving people who we want to love. Tonight, I’d like you to hear these words and think about how they apply to your enemies.

So pick one or two of your enemies: someone who’s done you wrong. Think about that person and listen to how Jesus would have you treat them.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
[6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. [8] Love never fails.

4. WHY?

Why should we love them? If we’re going to pursue something so contrary to our nature and our desires, we ought to have a good reason for doing so. Jesus tells us in verse 45 why we need to love our enemies:

[45] that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

There’s only one reason to love your enemies. You should do it because it’s just what your Dad would do. That’s just the way God treats them. When we love our enemies, we demonstrate that we are God’s children. We prove our relationship with him. Jesus gives two examples.

A)He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,

B) and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

5. God’s Love is Based on Grace
God’s love is one sided. It’s non-reciprocal. You don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love, to deserve God’s love. You just get it.

6. Man’s Love is Based on Merit
human beings love on the basis of reciprocal relationships.

Our love is given in return for something else. In other words, I’ll love you because you’ve earned my love or because you’re entitled to my love. You love me. So I’ll love you back.

7. Jesus says, anyone can do that. But you can do better.

[46] If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

[47] And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

8. [48] Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

It sounds like Jesus is setting a standard we cannot possibly achieve. The word perfect here means complete or thorough. 4

Jesus is talking about the way we ought to love. Loving only our friends and our family is an incomplete love that any human being can do. But loving your enemy—loving those that hate you and those that hate God—that kind of love is mature. That is true love. Complete. Perfect.

Theme : SPOUSE "Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids Matthew 25:1-13"

This parable foretold the suddenness and unexpectedness of the Lord's coming. It calls for us to be prepared for that moment. There are four things we need to understand from the parable: the wedding, the bridesmaids, the bridegroom, and the warning.

I. THE WEDDING (v. 1)

In Biblical times, weddings were the big community event. They were the greatest social celebration. Everyone got involved: friends, families, and neighbors. They were a time of happiness and festivity. For the Arrangement of a Marriage - there were three elements in a Jewish marriage of that time. 1. The engagement 2. The betrothal 3. The wedding. So the Anticipation Before a Marriage is a long process and there was serious preparation.

II. THE BRIDESMAIDS (vv. 1-5)

a) The outward appearance - The Bridesmaids are the people who profess to be Christians.. They say they know Christ, and they anticipate His coming. They even say they are prepared for Him; they have on their wedding garment and have their lampstand. Their presence symbolizes their interest in Christ and their lampstand symbolizes their profession of faith in Christ. They all show outward marks of watching for the coming of the bridegroom: Christ. They are gathered as bridesmaids, waiting to be received into the glorious marriage celebration.

b) The inward reality - On the surface the ten bridesmaids are the same. Yet they are not the same. Verse 2 says "five of them were wise [Gk., phronimos, `thoughtful, sensible, prudent'], and five were foolish [Gk., moros, `moron, stupid']." It may not be clear which is which, but He who searches men's hearts knows (1 Sam. 16:7). The Lord reads our character and marks our place. The Lord knows them that are his, and them that are not his, in every assembly of worshippers"

Matthew 25:3-4 says, "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." The foolish had no oil, so they were not prepared for Christ's return. Their attachment to Christ was merely external. They hadn't secured the most important thing of all: the oil necessary to light the lampstand. The oil represents saving grace. In a crowd of people who outwardly appear to honor Christ will be some whose hearts are unprepared. They have not received salvation by grace.

An Unpopular Message

Throughout His ministry, Christ repeatedly warned that there will be people attaching themselves to the church who are not saved. For example, He said that in His kingdom on earth would grow both wheat and tares. He warned they would look so much alike that we are not to pull out the tares lest we pull out the wheat (Matt. 13:28-29). The separation of the two will take place when the Lord returns (v. 30).

III. THE BRIDEGROOM (vv. 6-12)

A. The Arrival - This moment in the wedding is analogous to the moment of Christ's second coming.

B. The Awakening

C. The Appeal - What did the foolish one do when they realized they had no oil? Matthew 25:8 says, "The foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out."

Lesson that we can learn – Salvation is a personal responsibility

If we're called to the judgment seat of God-- whether at death or the second coming--no one can help us. All the saints in heaven and the believers on earth could weep on our behalf but that wouldn't save us. Salvation is non-transferable. As we will see in a moment, the wise bridesmaids didn't give any oil to the foolish ones. That's not because they were selfish; it's just that an unbeliever can't ask a believer for salvation. Every person is accountable to make his own life right before God.

D. The Answer

The answer from the wise bridesmaids appears in verse 9: "Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." That the foolish bridesmaids are told to buy oil doesn't mean salvation can be bought. It's a free gift (Rom. 6:23). But there is a price: you have to give up your very self. No one can give you salvation. You have to go to God on your own. The foolish bridesmaids could have gotten oil, but not at midnight. They had the opportunity, but they slept it away. They weren't allowed to be a part of the wedding ceremony without a lit lampstand. They didn't have what was necessary.

D. The Abandoning

1. The reception & rejection into the kingdom

In verse 10 we read that while the foolish virgins went to get oil "the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut." There was no place for the foolish virgins to buy oil at midnight.

The door into the kingdom is open now. But someday it will be shut. Some people will be caught unprepared. They will know the same shock as those who appear before the Lord in Matthew 7:22-23: "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out demons? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

IV. THE WARNING (v. 13) -The parable concludes, "Watch, therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man cometh" (v. 13). Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the son of man."

Love Letter from Father in Heaven

My Child,

You may not know me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways. Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image. Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being. Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring. Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5

 

I chose you when I planned creation. Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb. Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born. Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me. John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. 1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. 1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. 1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father. Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you. Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession. Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things. Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires. Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. Psalm 34:18


As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth.Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus.John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being. Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. 1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me. 1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen. Luke 15:7

 

I have always been Father, and will always be Father. Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is…Will you be my child? John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you. Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your Dad

Almighty God

“Just as all men die in ADAM, so all men will be brought to life in His Son, Jesus Christ”

How can some among you say there is no resurrection of Christ? A problem that St. Paul was dealing with the people in Corith. What a horrible thought that is …. No resurrection of Christ.


When our first grandfather ADAM fall, Death dawn on all mankind. In fact, Death came through ADAM. The world was in darkness and “fallen asleep” as St Paul described in the scripture tonight.

Our Heavenly Father, in HIS work of Salvation for all mankind, sent HIS only son to redeem HIS creatures. How did Jesus redeem mankind? Through His Passion, Death and Resurrection. At the resurrection, all things were made new and there is the beginning of a new creation.

“Just as all men die in ADAM, so all men will be brought to life in His Son, Jesus Christ” This is the highlight of tonight second reading. “Just as all men die in ADAM, so all men will be brought to life in His Son, Jesus Christ”

First Adam brought death; Last Adam brought eternal life.

First Adam brought condemnation; Last Adam brought justification.

Adam disobedience and its consequences were passed on to all of us without exception. However, Christ obedience and righteousness is passed on to all who repent and believe in Him. Adam stood for many and brought death upon all; Jesus Christ stood for many and brings eternal life to all who trust in Him.

Brother & sister in Christ, Let us put our complete trust in Jesus. We all hope that one day we may experience our own Assumption.

"James"- in Hebrew "Jacob", Jacob name's was later changed to "Israel"

JACOB was not born an Israelite. He had to “earn it” the hard way. God did not call him Israel until he was 98 years old and had become the kind of person that fits the name. The first usage of this name Israel is not racial, national, political, or religious. It has to do with character and relationship with God.


The name was also meant to be a testimony or a witness to the sovereignty of God and all of its implications. Israel means “God rules.” As Dr Bullinger says in his notes on Genesis 32:28, where Jacob wrestled with the angel:

Israel. “God commands, orders, or rules.” Man attempts it but always, in the end, fails. Out of some forty Hebrew names compounded with “El” or “Jah”, God is always the doer of what the verb means (cp. Dani-el, God judges).

Prevailed. Succeeded. He had contended for the birthright and succeeded (25:29-34). He had contended with Laban and succeeded (27). He had contended with “men” and succeeded. Now he contends with God - and fails. Hence, his name was changed to Israel, God commands, to teach him the greatly needed lesson of dependence upon God.

Jacob lost the wrestling match with the angel, but in losing, he won the prize. In losing, he won, for now he understood the sovereignty of God. He learned that he might succeed in overcoming men by his own strength and wit, but he could never give lip service to God’s sovereignty while ordering Him around, as many do.

The prayer life of many Christians consists of telling God what He already knows in order to coerce Him into doing what they think He ought to do. When will we learn that God really does know what He is doing, and that He is not the helpless giant in the sky that many seem to think He is? We ought instead to hear His voice and find out what He wants and intends to do - and

then pray that His will be done, and not ours. This is true recognition of His sovereignty. This is spiritual maturity. This is what it means to manifest the character of a true Israelite.

Jacob could never be Israel in his own strength or by the power of the flesh. Israel was a name that gave testimony to God’s strength and man’s weakness. Men usually think of the name Israel as meaning “ruling with God,” as if this were some sort of privilege, where Israelites get to accumulate servants and slaves and be above other more ordinary men. It is not. It indicates that the Israelite is the servant and slave of Jesus Christ, his sovereign Master. Until man is fully conquered by Jesus Christ and apprehended by His love, he is not a true Israelite. Until he loses the wrestling match with God, he cannot be given the name of Israel.

THE MEANING OF "ISRAEL" TO MOSES

In time “Israel” took on a new meaning. In the days of Moses the “children of Israel” meant those who were of the household of the descendants of Jacob-Israel. They were not all necessarily direct descendants of Jacob. After all, Jacob had inherited thousands of servants after his father Isaac had died. He, in turn, had inherited them from his father, Abraham.

Genesis 14:14 tells us that Abraham had 318 men of war in his household. That number does not include their wives and children and perhaps even their parents. It is highly probable, then, that Abraham had close to 2,000 men in his “tribe.” This would have perhaps doubled by the time Isaac inherited them. And these could easily have doubled again by the time Jacob inherited them from Isaac. Thus, Jacob’s household might have included about 8,000 in all.

These ultimately went to Egypt with Jacob and his sons and grandsons (70 in all, according to Exodus 1:5). Moses’ mother, a daughter of Levi himself, was born while the 70 were on their way to live in Egypt at the request of Joseph. Numbers 26:59 speaks of “the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt.”

Historically speaking, the book of Jasher clarifies this, saying in Jasher 59:9,

"And the children of Levi were Gershon, Kehath and Merari and their sister Jochebed, who was born unto them in their going down to Egypt.”

Jasher 67:11 and 68:1-5 shows that Jochebed gave birth to Moses 130 years after Jacob went to Egypt. Eighty years later Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. This means Israel was in Egypt for 210 years, not 400 years as is commonly thought. The 400 years mentioned in Genesis 15:13 is from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus. It was also 430 years from the promise to Abraham to the covenant with Moses a few weeks after the Exodus (Galatians 3:17). Thus, the promise to Abraham occurred just 30 years before the birth of Isaac. Yet Isaac was born 190 years before Jacob went to Egypt; because Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born (Genesis 25:26), and Jacob was 130 when he went to Egypt (Genesis 47:9).

Thus, Israel spent only 210 years in Egypt, and yet they increased in population to over 600,000 men over the age of 20. This indicates a total population of at least 2-3 million people. It would have been hard for just 70 sons of Jacob to increase to that number, even if they had been in Egypt for a full 400 years. How did they increase so quickly? It is easily explainable by the fact that “Israel” by this time included all of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s servants who accompanied them to Egypt. If they started out with at least 8,000 and doubled each generation of 20 years, their population would have increased as follows:

First generation: 16,000

Second: 32,000

Third: 64,000

Fourth: 128,000

Fifth: 256,000

Sixth: 512,000

Seventh: 1,024,000

Eighth: 2,048,000

Eight generations of 20 years is only 200 years. The graves in Goshen that were excavated recently showed that the Israelite men averaged 3 or 4 wives each. This was shown in a documentary over Public Television in 2001. They could not possibly have gotten all their wives from within their own closed Israelite families, barring a miracle of the women bearing 3 or 4 girls to every boy. They must have gotten the extra wives from outside, probably many Egyptians (like Joseph’s wife, Asenath) The Egyptians in those days were not dark skinned, so this would have had no effect upon their racial character.

We say all this, not to imitate a census bureau, but to show that “Israel” by this time was a nationalistic term, not a purely genealogical term. It was no longer even a term that indicated one’s character or relationship with God.

The book of Exodus and Numbers shows us conclusively that those “Israelites” were stubborn, rebellious people who were more Jacobite in their character than Israelite.

They carried the name of Israel because of what they were supposed to be, not because of who they were. They were supposed to have the character of Jacob after he wrestled with the angel, but they did not. They were supposed to bear testimony to the sovereignty of God, but they rebelled against Him.

It is the same with the term Christian. Many people call themselves Christians, but this term has now come to mean “a member of an organization that claims Jesus Christ as its founder.” Unfortunately, it no longer seems to have much to do with one’s character or relationship with God. Christians are supposed to act like “little Christ’s,” but painfully, this is only too rare.

The people in Moses’ day were Israelites, perhaps, by genealogy. They were certainly Israelites by nationality. But they were NOT Israelites in their relationship with God. And this is the crux of the matter. God is not interested merely in producing Israelites by genealogy or by nationality. He is interested in producing people who reflect the character of the term Israel.

Jacob was a believer long before he became an Israelite. So we find that God is not merely interested in producing believers, or Christians, as we would say today. His goal is to produce men and women who are called in the New Testament “the Sons of God.” This is God’s big dilemma. How does one take physical people and turn them into the sons and daughters of God?

We will answer that question as we proceed, but first we need to continue our history lesson to show how the name Israel changed in its shades of meaning over time.

ISRAEL DISTINCT FROM JUDAH

Five centuries after Moses, King Solomon died. He had been King of Israel, a united Israel that included all of the twelve tribes, plus Levi. But then the tribes of Israel revolted against his son Rehoboam because he refused to lower their tax burden. Only the tribes of Benjamin and Judah remained loyal to Rehoboam (I Kings 11:29-39).

The Kingdom thus split into two nations. The ten tribes to the north retained the name of Israel. The two tribes to the south took the name of Judah. From this point on when the prophets speak of Israel, or House of Israel, they are referring to the ten tribes to the north. When the prophets speak of Judah, or the House of Judah, they are referring to the two tribes to the south.

Thus, the name Israel took on a nationalistic meaning. No longer did it apply to the tribe of Judah or Benjamin. It applied only to the other ten tribes in the north who had formed their own monarchy under Jeroboam.

This is very important to understand, because most Christians today mistakenly apply the prophecies to the House of Israel to the modern Jews, whose roots (even they claim) go back to the southern nation of Judah. Hence, “Jew” is a shortened form of “Judah.” Modern Bible teachers mistakenly apply to the “State of Israel” the prophecies of the regathering of the “House of Israel.” They ignore completely the fact that the House of Israel are the ten tribes that went into Assyria, not the two tribes that were taken to Babylon. The House of Israel never returned and were, as Ezekiel 34:16 called them, LOST SHEEP.

JUDAH DISTINCT FROM ISRAEL

God prophesied through all the prophets that the lost sheep of Israel would be found but never that the Jews would replace the Israelites. Thus, when the Jews called their new nation “Israel” in 1948, they did so in order to deceive the average Christian into thinking that they were fulfilling the prophecies of the regathering of the lost sheep of the House of Israel. It was a deliberate deception, because up to that point the Zionists had talked about the restored Kingdom of Judah.

Even so, as I have written before, true Judahites are those who accepted and submitted to the rulership of the King of Judah, Jesus Christ. The rest were cut off from the tribe, according to the law itself. Paul refers to this in Romans 2:28. There was a conflict in Paul’s day as to which sect represented the tribe of Judah. Was it those who rejected Jesus, or those who accepted Him? Those who rejected Him were the majority, and so historically they were able to retain the name of Judah in the eyes of men. But as far as God is concerned, it was the Christians who were the true representatives of Judah. To the original disciples and followers of Jesus (who were of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi) were soon added many others of different nations, grafted to the tree of True Judah. In time, the tree of True Judah became more populous than the dead branch of Judaism that had been pruned, or cut off.

For this reason, in my opinion the Jewish state has no right to call itself the State of Judah any more than the State of Israel. If their state had been founded by believers in Jesus Christ and by Christian methods, perhaps this might justify calling it “Judah.” But this did not happen.

Instead, they came with the intent of dispossessing the Arab population, both Christians and Muslims. They provoked an Arab response and then blamed them for starting the fight. They finally engaged in terrorism against the British in the 1940’s and called the British officers “murderers” when they hanged the terrorists that they caught. They even killed hundreds of their own people in order to blame the British government and make them look bad in the eyes of the world.

If this sounds shocking, let me simply refer to the sinking of the S.S. Patria, a refugee ship full of Jews that had attempted to land illegally in Palestine in 1940. The British government decided to send it elsewhere. Menachem Begin, the leading terrorist of the day and head of the Irgun Gang, wrote a book, The Revolt: Story of the Irgun. It was first published in 1951. He wrote on pages 35, 36,

“The Patria never sailed. Jewish terrorists’ placed a bomb to prevent its departure. The bomb exploded and more than two hundred Jews were killed or drowned. The British authorities noted the fact that this was not an Irgun Zvai Leumi operation; it was the Haganah which had placed the bomb.”

The Haganah was the military force of Ben-Gurion’s Jewish Agency operating in Palestine at the time. He may have thought that the lives of 276 insignificant Jews were worth their weight in propaganda, but I suspect the families of the victims were of a different opinion. The truth of the sinking of the Patria was not publicly known for ten years, after which time it was reported by David Flinker of the Jewish Morning Journal, Nov. 27, 1950.

To the British, Menachem Begin was the “Number One Terrorist.” To Begin, he was the Number One Freedom Fighter. At least he was open about his terrorism and did not deliberately seek to harm hisfellow Jews. He despised the Jewish Agency and its Haganah for their hypocrisy and policies that changed with the political winds. When it was advantageous to them, they engaged in terrorism of their own, particularly in the time from Oct. 1945 to July 1946, even uniting their activities with the Irgun and Stern Gang, another terrorist organization commanded by Yitzhak Shamir, who later became an Israeli Prime Minister. But at other times, to curry favour, they would help the British find and imprison Irgun or Stern members.

The point is that terrorism will not establish the Kingdom of God. Terrorism, however, established the Israeli state. The preachers were sure that May 18, 1948 began a 1,260-day period to the middle of the “tribulation” when the Antichrist would build his temple on the site of the mosque in Jerusalem. It did not happen.

Christian preachers were equally sure that the Jews would repent by the end of seven years (1955) and that Christ would return. It did not happen. But instead of questioning their basic premise that that Israeli state was the fulfillment of the regathering of the House of Israel, they simply adjusted their theology further away from the truth.

ISRAEL LOST ITS NAME "ISRAEL"

After centuries of rebellion and rejecting God, Israel was cast off into Assyria, who settled them along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. There they lost their God-given name, Israel. God stripped them of it because they were not living up to its testimony. In their rebellion, how could He allow them to keep using a name that means “God rules”?

This is how Israel began to be known by other names, and this is how God saw to it that they were “lost.” The people were not lost. Only their name was lost. The people were known to the Assyrians - even a century before they deported Israel - by the official name Beth-Khumri, sometimes spelled in alternative ways like Bit-Humria. This name means “House of Omri,”
named as such after Israel’s most successful monarch (I Kings 16:28). Omri was the father of Ahab, who is more well known today.

In the Hebrew language of that time, Omri’s name was actually pronounced Ghomri. The Assyrians thus referred to the land where they had been resettled as the land of Gamir and its inhabitants the Gamira. Later, the hard “g” sound was softened to “k” or “kh”. Thus, the Celts (or Kelts) today are known as the Khumri, for they still retain that ancient name after their descendants migrated from Assyria into Europe, Britain and Wales. The Welsh go by the name of Khumri even today.

Assyria was later conquered by Babylon, and Babylon in turn was conquered by Medo-Persia toward the end of Daniel’s life (Daniel 5). Darius the Mede actually took the city of Babylon and ruled it until his son-in-law, Cyrus, returned from other campaigns. Cyrus allowed the people of Judah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. His son, Cambyses ruled as co-regent with Cyrus from 530-528 B.C. Cyrus died in 528 fighting the Scythians. Cambyses then reigned another 6 years as sole regent of Persia.

Darius the Great of Persia then took the throne, and he reigned from 521-486 B.C. When he died, he was buried in a tomb on the side of a mountain called Behistun. The Behistun Rock listed in 3 languages all of the people who were subject to his rule. This included some portion of the ex-Israelites, who were now known as Gamira.

In the Babylonian inscription at Behistun, they are called Gimiri, but in the Persian table, these same people are called Saka. The third table in the Susian language calls them Sakka. Thus, the Gamira, or Gimiri, are also known as Saka and Sakka.

The Greek historians of that period spelled it “Sacae,” (Scythians). The Roman historians spelled it “Saxons.” These form the bulk of European peoples who migrated into Europe from the area in and around Assyria. They were not Assyrians. They were Israelites who had lost their name for refusing to live up to its true meaning. Being Israelites by genealogy did not give them immunity from God’s judgment.

The point is this: if we must focus upon genealogy to find the lost House of Israel, then let us do it with some integrity. The Jews are not Israel either spiritually or physically. The physical Israelites (or ex-lsraelites) are to be found among the Caucasian people of Europe and wherever they have spread throughout the world. They were given the name “Caucasian,” because many of them migrated through the Caucasus mountains from Assyria into Europe.

And to some extent, these people have indeed been blessed in many ways, particularly in the fact that the Gospel of Christ spread and took shape in the European nations quite early. This was their key advantage. God saw to it that the Gospel took root there first.

However, having six Bibles for every family does not make us a Christian people. For the most part, this made us “cultural Christians,” to make us feel good about ourselves while we continued to despise the divine law and substitute oppressive Church laws in its place. Only a few throughout history understood that the purpose of election was to empower a people to set creation free. The majority thought election meant the privilege of enslaving others who were not quite so elect.

It is not enough to be an ex-Israelite of the dispersion. Your genealogy and a few dollars might buy you a latte. I appreciate, of course, being descended from Israelites, because if I had been born elsewhere, I might never have had a Bible in my own language, nor parents who taught me the Word. There is this advantage. But if I expect my genealogy to impress Peter enough to open the gates of heaven, I am greatly mistaken. In fact, Peter probably would look at me and say, “Oh, yes, I remember that lot quite well. Please go to your left, down three flights of stairs, and tell the receptionist I’m sending more fuel.”

God is not impressed with cultural Christians or genealogical Christians. He is looking for a relationship with people who truly live up to the name of Israel. He is raising up people who will truly be overcomers, even as Jacob was an overcomer. Such people do not have to be Israelites by genealogy in order to enter this race. Jacob did not qualify by genealogy, but by faith and obedience. He was the pattern in the Old Testament, the one through whom this whole Israelite story began.

The question before us is this: How is God fulfilling the prophecies to Israel? Is it enough to know who Jacob’s physical descendants are? Can others become Israelites?

With acknowledgments to God’s Kingdom Ministries

Neo Catechumenal Convivenze 25-27 June 2010 at Sibu Diocesan Pastoral Centre