The Legacy of Jacob - Moriel Ministries

"MORIEL"
GOD IS MY TEACHER
January/March 2012 Tevet/Sh’vat/Adar 1 5772
No. 49
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly

Thank You from the Administrator
"MORIEL"
GOD IS MY TEACHER
From the Office of the Administrator
Dear Friends of Moriel,
Important Correction - Not Even a Minyan
Message: On page 5 under the heading FROM SOCIETY TO THE CHURCH, it states
“that the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is among the churches ordaining homosexuals.”
The sentence should have read “that Presbyterian Church USA ( PC USA) is among
the churches ordaining homosexuals.”
Our apologies go out to the PCA who won’t even ordain women or allow women to be
elders, let alone ordain homosexuals. They broke from the Presbyterian church in the 1970s
because of the liberalism.
Next Year – 2012
Jacob had a great visit to The Far East, visiting Thailand and Burma. While in Thailand
Moriel obtained a printing press that is capable of printing Bibles; with that up and running
a “railroad” is being established to carry Bibles to that corner of the world. Also, “spurs”
for other people groups are being worked on and other editions are being put together. God
is blessing!
Moriel and Jacob have some exciting opportunities ahead of us. We hope to see everyone
at the new Bible Prophecy Conference in Alberta Western Canada in late March
(see Jacob’s itinerary on the website of here in the Quarterly. Also, we are excited about
doing the annual Vision Calvary Chapel Prophecy Conference in Porterville California
the weekend of March 13-15. Also, Jacob will be seeing his daughter get married the
weekend after that in a small family ceremony. May the Lord bless the happy couple!
Jacob is working on his yet untitled next book, which will deal with the rapture. He
intends to finish it and have it published late, late next year. Pray he finds the time and is
able to finish this book on time, plus pray not just for the time, but Jacob doesn’t speak when
he gives up time to write and we have less time with him; but in the end the books are very
helpful.
No Tour to Israel!
Jacob had planned to do a tour to Israel, but when we looked at the prices, they were
through the roof. Prices had risen to about $4900 (3700 pounds) from England alone. In this
time when people are still recovering from the downturn in the economy Jacob thought it
prudent not to do a tour at this time. We will continue to pray and that opportunity will open
up in the near future.
New Missions
Not only has the Lord opened the door to missions among the children of the Olongopo
dump children and the Hmong people, but He is giving Moriel a new mission in Thailand,
with a missionary name Scott Noble. Please pray for these various missions and how we can
be servants to them as they minister to God’s people in these foreign lands. So, tune into the
website and the Quarterly for updates and prayer needs, but also “come and see” what The
Lord is doing. We have some new reports on these missions and we hope they will thrill
you to see what the Lord is doing. We were able to send all the kids to school this year and
expand the feeding program. But, sadly the 9 packages from one of our churches sent with
gifts for the kids appears to have gone missing. So, sad! May the Lord help.
Moriel Tax Receipt Time
The Tax receipts were put in the mail in late January so we hope everyone got theirs, if
not please call the Moriel office at 412-321-6154 and leave a message and we will get back
to you ASAP. Also, if you don’t think your receipt is right, please call.
More New Material
Jacob is going to record some new teachings when he is in Pittsburgh in March, they
will be preview messages and he will be working to improve them as he continues to study
them and pray about them. Also, he likes to do messages a few times and listen as the Holy
Spirit gives him new insight in order to feed the sheep. One is called The Boiling Pot, another
untitled message is from Ezekiel. So, stay tuned, we will have these available in the
next Quarterly and we will post these to the web as soon as they are ready.
In Peace,
David
Jacob’s Itinerary
– columbus, oh –
Grace Polaris
Friday and Saturday March 9-10, 2012
8225 Worthington-Galena Rd
Westerville, OH 43081
614-888-7733
– Pittsburgh, pa –
Beth Hebron
Friday thru Sunday
March 16-18, 2012
60 Belvidere Street
Crafton, PA 15205
Phone: 412-321-6154
Friday - 7:00 PM, Saturday - 7:00 PM
Sunday - 10:30 AM
– Calgary, Alberta –
Glenmore Inn
Friday thru Sunday
March 30 - April 1, 2012
Israel & Bible Prophecy Conference
Glenmore Inn
2720 Glenmore Trail SE
Calgary, AB T2C 2E6
Details to follow
– Marion, IA –
Believers in Grace
Wednesday thru Sunday
April 4-8, 2012
8600 C. Avenue, Marion, IA 52302
Phone: 319-373-3087
Wednesday - 4-7:00 PM,
Thursday - 5-7:00 PM,
Friday - 6-7:00 PM, Saturday - 6-7:00 PM
Sunday services 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM
– Porterville, CA –
Vision Calvary Chapel
Friday thru Sunday, April 13-15, 2012
Porterville Veterans’ Building
1900 W. Olive Ave.
Porterville, CA 93257
559-784-0782
– Chino Hills, CA –
Calvary Chapel Chino Hills
Sunday April 29, 2012 - 7:30, 9:30* & 11:45
4201 Eucalyptus Ave.
Chino Hills, CA 91710
909-393-7100
* Signing for the Deaf
* Spanish Simulcast
Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

featured articles
"MORIEL"
GOD IS MY TEACHER
4
january–march
Issue No. 49
legacy of jacob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
PUBLISHED BY
MORIEL MINISTRIES
INTERNATIONAL
www.moriel.org
Moriel International Director
James Jacob Prasch
ADMINISTRATOR
david Lister
Phone: 1•412•321•6154
Moriel AUSTRALIA & SINGAPORE
Marg Goodwin
P.O. Box 112
Trafalgar Vic 3824
Phone: +613•5633•2300
Fax: +613•5633•1578
Email: moriel@vic.australia.com.au
moriel New zealand
Nigel Nicholson
12 Konini Crescent Napler
moriel South africa
David Royle
1 Trade Street
Napier 7270
West Cape, South Africa
Phone/Fax: 0823739297
moriel United Kingdom
Allison Dodd
P.O. Box 201
Maldenhead Berks SL6 9FB
England
moriel United states of America
David Lister
P.O. Box 100223
Pittsburgh, PA. 15233-0223
Phone: 1•412•321•6154
Email: morieldavid@yahoo.com
One
B a n g k o k
insanity
16
is but a
of the Other
21
moriel japan
S k y l i n e
R i c e f i e l d s C h i a n g M a i
18
24
Introducing our New missionary to . . .
thailand
28
AUSTRALIANnews
one insanity is but a
relection of the other . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
MORIEL SOUTH AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
MORIEL JAPAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
YOUR LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
MORIEL THAILAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
AUSTRALIAN REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
MORIEL ISRAEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
MORIEL PRAYER CLOSET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
MORIEL japan
Geoff Toole
Email: morieljapan@yahoo.co.jp
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly

Feature Article
Jacob Prasch
Painting by: Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (Italian 1483-1520)
Acts of Apostles – Paul spreads Christianity in the Eastern Medterranean 45-58 C.E.
T
Part 1 – the lesson for all belivers
Jacob (Ya’aqob) is my father’s grandfather’s
name. I often joke that Ya’aqob means
“swindler,” but actually it does not. It could be
translated “supplanter,” but it really has to do
with “heel.” Jacob grabbed his brother’s heel.
The story of Jacob has a dual format all the
way through. There is a personal story of Jacob
which teaches very important things for
us as believers—how God perfects us. Something
for every believer is taught in the story,
life and experience of Jacob. On the other side
we are going to look at how Jacob personifies
Israel and the Jewish people.
In Scriptures whenever it specifies “Israel”
or “Jacob,” it does so for a reason. “Israel”
has the language of incorporation; Gentiles
could be grafted into Israel. “Israel” has already
wrestled with God and is broken, “Jacob”
has not. The Jewish people, because they
are not broken, are personified by “Jacob.”
The Great Tribulation is called “the time of
Jacob’s trouble” and has a meaning for Israel
and the Jews. We will begin by looking at the
first aspect of Jacob, how Jacob teaches about
you, how Jacob teaches about me; how Jacob
behaves is the how we tend to behave, and
the way God deals with Jacob to perfect him
teaches an awful lot about the way God is going
to perfect us.
Jacob often did not have a very easy life,
even up to the end of his life. Similar to Abraham,
and certainly to a degree to Isaac, even
to his very old age God was working out
some very basic things in his life and in his
character. Forget this idea, “I’m old, I’m retired,
I’ve had it”—we have not “had it” until
we go home. God is working out things in our
life until we get there. My personal, favorite
verse in the Bible is Philippians 1:6:
For I am confident of this very thing, that
He who began a good work in you will
perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
But the way He is going to do it is the way
He did it with Jacob.
“Fallen” vs. “Natural”
The God of Abraham is very much the God
of promise, the God of Isaac is the God who
gives the son of promise, but the God of Jacob
is the God who perfects the son of promise.
All those who are in the Messiah Yeshua are
sons of promise. Jacob represents the natural
man; not simply the fallen man, but the natural
man—there is a difference.
When Adam was created he had no imperfections,
but he was not perfected. Imperfection
comes because of the Fall. After we become
born-again, God gets rid of the fallen man by
faith. The fallen man or fallen woman is crucified
by faith at the cross of Jesus and they
are born-again—they become a new creation.
However, God deals with the natural man
after we are born-again. “Pick up your cross
daily and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23). The fallen
man is one thing, the natural man is another.
It is so easy for us as Christians to be motivated
by good intentions. I know people
who have gone to mission fields with good
intentions. They saw pagan peoples perishing
because they were without the Gospel, they
saw people in sub-human poverty, and being
teachers or medical doctors they wanted to
introduce the Gospel to people who were suffering
in the developing world. Their motives
were right. Praise God for good motives.
Before they were saved they just wanted to
build a career and make money just like anyone
else, but then they put that on the altar
and said they wanted to go to a mission field.
These are good motives. We, as believers,
have a natural tendency to be motivated by
good motives. However, in God’s economy
new motives and good motives are simply the
first step—we have to be motivated to missions
by the Holy Spirit. Jacob was somebody
who attempted to achieve the purposes and
Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

lessings of God in his own sense. His motives
were right, but he wound up with a “the
ends justify the means” mentality.
I have seen so many big missions organizations
and church organizations that began
with the right motives, but they eventually
adopted “the ends justify the means” mentality,
and the natural man took over. I have been
at meetings where big Christian businessmen
want to finance missions, I have been at
meetings with missions boards, I have been at
meetings with executives of denominations,
all of which had two minutes of perfunctory
prayer and then began negotiating the same
as secular businessmen would in the world.
Their motives are right, but in their way of
thinking the end—the target, always justifies
the way they act. That is the natural man; that
is Jacob. Jacob is in them, Jacob is in me. It
is easy for me to criticize these big wheels on
missions boards, except that if I were a big
wheel on a missions board, I might not be any
better. It is so easy for the natural man to take
over. When we are born-again, God deals
with the fallen man or the fallen woman, but
then He begins to deal with the natural man or
the natural woman.
Jacob’s Troubles
Look at all the trouble Jacob had. Every
trial he went through was designed by God
to deal with his natural man. And the kinds
of trials that we go through will be trials that
God has designed to deal with our natural
man or natural woman.
What we like to say is, “This is a financial
attack of the enemy.” There are three kinds
of trouble. There is the kind of trouble that
does come directly from the enemy. Paul
says, “Satan hindered us” (1 Th. 2:18). Then
there is the kind of trouble that God is prepared
to save us from that we otherwise bring
upon ourselves. We have enough trouble in
this world, yet we stray from God’s will and
we bring upon ourselves trouble God does not
want us to have. But then there is the kind
that God does want us to have. Even in Isaiah
Satan is called God’s servant. But even
though it may be an attack of the enemy,
“All things work together for good” (Rom.
8:28). Just think of persecution. Persecution
cleans up lukewarmness and fear within the
Church—it gets rid of nominal believers. It is
a thing from the enemy—I do not pray to God
for persecution.
I have seen persecution in Israel and it is
not nice. We lived in Israel in the 80’s when
the Likud was in power with the religious
party, and the religious party was doing terrible
things. There was burning of Messianic
synagogues. I have seen what persecution is
somewhat like, although it is not nearly as
bad as what persecution in Muslim countries
is like. Of course it is the enemy, but God
has a purpose. God had a purpose in Israel.
When I first immigrated to Israel in the 70s,
believers were afraid to evangelize publicly.
But after their meeting places began to get
Jacob Prasch
burned down in Jerusalem, Tiberias, Ashdod
and elsewhere, they said, “What is the difference
Why should we be afraid”
The trials we have as believers are designed
by God to deal with the natural man.
A Life Replayed
So much of Jacob’s life replays that of his
father and his grandfather. Jacob came looking
for a bride from among his own people,
and he preferred Rachel. But only after he
learned to love Leah as much as he loved Rachel
did he get Rachel. In the beginning Leah
has all the children, but in the end Rachel
has all the children. All the great men of the
Bible prefigure the Messiah in some way. In
the beginning the Gentile Church is the most
fruitful, but then in the end Rachel’s the most
fruitful—the Jews. The Jewish people as a
nation begin with Jacob: the twelve sons of
Jacob—the tribes and patriarchs of Israel. He
replays the experiences, and even some of the
trials, of his father and grandfather.
When we go through trials in our lives as
believers, we do not think about it, but other
believers before us—in a spiritual sense, our
fathers and grandfathers—have gone through
those same kinds of trials. The Church itself
has to learn the same lessons over and over.
Just look at the history of the Church. It begins
to compromise, it goes away from the
Bible, it backslides, God raises something
new, it is good for a time and it goes through
the same process again. It is just like the kings
in Chronicles. The history of the Church undergoes
the same kind of phenomena as in
Judges, Kings and Chronicles for Israel. The
history of the Church tells the same thing. Jacob
replays the experiences of his father and
grandfather. Jacob represents the natural man.
…and you have forgotten the exhortation
which is addressed to you as sons,
“MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY
THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR
FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED
BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE
LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND
HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM
HE RECEIVES.”
(He obviously did not believe the lies of
prosperity theology.)
It is for discipline that you endure; God
deals with you as with sons; for what
son is there whom his father does not
discipline But if you are without discipline,
of which all have become partakers,
then you are illegitimate children
and not sons. Furthermore, we had
earthly fathers to discipline us, and we
respected them; shall we not much rather
be subject to the Father of spirits, and
live For they disciplined us for a short
time as seemed best to them, but He
disciplines us for our good, so that we
may share His holiness. All discipline
for the moment seems not to be joyful,
but sorrowful; yet to those who have
Feature Article
been trained by it, afterwards it yields
the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews
12:5-11)
When we go through trials it is pretty miserable,
but in retrospect when we come out of
them we see that it was God’s hand. We might
say we could not go through that again, but
we are glad we went through it the first time,
even though while we were going through it
we did not want it. Jacob is a perfect illustration
of that process. Isaac typifies the new
creation the most—he is put on the altar; Jacob
is the son of the new creation, as it were.
The Character of Jacob & Esau
Let us look at what happens for this natural
man, and what happens for this fallen man, as
the story of Jacob continues.
The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb; And
two peoples will be separated from your
body; And one people shall be stronger
than the other; And the older shall serve
the younger.”
When her days to be delivered were fulfilled,
behold, there were twins in her
womb. Now the first came forth red,
all over like a hairy garment; and they
named him Esau. Afterward his brother
came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s
heel, so his name was called Jacob;
and Isaac was sixty years old when she
gave birth to them. (Genesis 25:23-26a)
The character of the Jews as a nation and
the character of the Arabs as a nation replay
the characters of Jacob and Esau. Esau despised
his birthright (Gen. 25:34). To this day,
because of the rise of Islam, the Arab peoples
despise their birthright. On the other hand
there is no doubt that Arabs have been mistreated
by Jews. It is not nearly as bad as what
Arabs do to each other, but there have been
injustices. The character of the Jewish people
and the Arabs in these two brothers is personified
in that of the patriarchs. Right from the
beginning he is grabbing his brother’s heel.
Let us look further at when it came time to
give the blessing. Some people postulate that
when the hands of Isaac were put on these sons
they may have been 70 years old or so. In this
story his mother puts him up to something.
But his mother said to him, “Your curse
be on me, my son; only obey my voice,
and go, get them for me.” So he went
and got them, and brought them to his
mother; and his mother made savory
food such as his father loved. Then Rebekah
took the best garments of Esau
her elder son, which were with her in
the house, and put them on Jacob her
younger son. And she put the skins of
the young goats on his hands and on
the smooth part of his neck. She also
gave the savory food and the bread,
which she had made, to her son Jacob.
Then he came to his father and said,
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly

Feature Article – Continued
“My father.” And he said, “Here I am.
Who are you, my son” Jacob said to his
father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have
done as you told me. Get up, please, sit
and eat of my game, that you may bless
me.” Isaac said to his son, “How is it
that you have it so quickly, my son”
And he said, “Because the LORD your
God caused it to happen to me.” Then
Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close,
that I may feel you, my son, whether you
are really my son Esau or not.” So Jacob
came close to Isaac his father, and
he felt him and said, “The voice is the
voice of Jacob, but the hands are the
hands of Esau.” He did not recognize
him, because his hands were hairy like
his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed
him. (Genesis 27:13-23)
On one hand Esau was getting what he
deserved because he despised his birthright;
on the other hand look at Jacob. The promise
of God was there from the moment of conception
that the younger shall be preeminent
over the older—not “better” or not “greater,”
but the salvific purposes of God would go
through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Islam,
of course, teaches it goes through Ibrahim,
Ishmael and Esau.) Jacob tries to achieve the
purposes of God by his human conniving, and
that is so much like the Jewish people. They
know, somehow, they have the Torah and the
covenant purpose, but it is always in their
way of thinking.
Notice that it was his mother who put him
up to this. We get our fallen nature from the
womb, but we also get it from the environment
which reinforces it. If parents have an anger
problem it is going to be reflected in their children.
We get our nature from conception, but
it is reinforced by our childhood environment.
So many times I see that as a parent I pass
on my negative traits by my example; I tell
my children one thing but I do another. We
are all like that to a degree, some of us worse
than others. A child gets it from his parents
and it is reinforced in the home environment.
When we get saved, God begins to deal with
that stuff, and He deals with it along the same
lines as He did in Jacob.
Achieving God’s Purposes
Again, I would point out that God blessed
Esau as well. I do not suggest God loves Jews
more than Arabs. I am just talking about the
election of God as His instrument of salvation—that
is all.
“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As
I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just,
because I do not seek My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me. (John 5:30)
Jesus said He did nothing on His own initiative.
Jesus could have fed the five thousand
because He was God, Jesus could have
walked on the water because He was God,
He could have healed people because He was
God, and there are Christians who make the
mistake of thinking He did those things because
He was God, but He did not—He did
them by the power of the Holy Spirit. He
took up the form of a servant, not considering
equality with God as something to be
grasped (Philip. 2:6). He emptied Himself of
the privilege of His deity and never used His
divine power. If Jesus used His divine power
He would have acted in the flesh. His motives
would have been right, but His actions would
not have been initiated by the Holy Spirit. In
Luke 5:17, “the power (dunamis) of the Lord
was present for Him to perform healing.”
Why is that if we pray for someone to get
out of a wheelchair (if we have the gift of
healing), only some will while some will not
We can always pray for sick people, anoint
them with oil and ask God to heal them, but
if we are going to say, “In the name of Jesus,
get out of that wheelchair,” the same
dunamis—“power” that was there for Jesus
in Luke 5:17 had better be there for us. The
Father, by the power of the Spirit, must be
initiating it; otherwise we are acting in the
flesh. We can pray for the person, but when
we command them to get up and get out of the
wheelchair in that situation, we are acting in
the flesh. We will invent all kinds of excuses
to put condemnation on people: “You have no
faith,” “You have sin in your life.” It may be
true, but more often than not it is a Christian
acting in the flesh and putting condemnation
on people. Jesus did not use His divine power.
He could have, but He did not. “I do nothing
by My own initiative,” He said.
Israel as a mission field is a good example.
There are believers coming from all over the
world who love Israel, love the Jewish people,
and have a sense of romance and attraction to
it because they like the idea of prophecy being
fulfilled, so they go there with high expectations.
But I would gather that the majority of
these people last six months to a year. Some
of them go there Philo-Semites and come
back Anti-Semites. That society will really
test your love of the Jews. The arrogance of
the people can really get to you.
There are reasons for that sociologically:
the Israelis are not more arrogant than anyone
else, they were born with socialist values
which consider good manners to be bourgeois.
Jews were always members of the diasporic
upper-middle class and the professional business
classes, and they wanted to be the people
of the land. So the Israelis who founded the
kibbutzes and similar socialistic things tried
to be the opposite of the Jews in the Diaspora.
They threw good manners out the window
and helped form the social mold, and that accounts
for why they are so arrogant (although
when you get beneath that arrogance you can
find a very warm people). If you hang out
there for a few years then you will begin to
see, but if you just go there for a year, what
you see is going to revolt you. I do not mean
just Gentiles, I mean even other Jews go there
and can’t stand it.
When we try to achieve the purposes of
God—even if it is His purpose, even if it is His
calling—in our own human strength, it is not
going to work. God gave us human strength,
but as we will see, our human strength cannot
come into play until God deals with something
in our life called the “natural man.”
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he
who abides in Me and I in him, he bears
much fruit, for apart from Me you can
do nothing. (John 15:5)
It is only by abiding in Jesus that we can
achieve the true purposes of God, but the
natural man is like Jacob: he always wants to
achieve it on his own intellect, his own enthusiasm
and his own ideas. Praise God for good
motives, but that is not good enough. Only by
abiding in Him can you do it. Not only that,
but very often Christians cannot tell the difference
between the natural man and what God
is initiating. They do not understand the difference
between what the Holy Spirit is leading
them to do, and what they think is good.
Think of the times in the Book of Acts
where it says they were out witnessing and
evangelizing and the Spirit of Jesus forbade
them to preach there (Acts 16:7). If someone
tries to go to a mission field God did not send
them to, they are not going to get anywhere,
and Israel is a beautiful example. So many
people come back.
I know people who were missionaries to
head hunters in New Guinea for 15-16 years,
but who left Israel as broken people. I know a
Jewish lady—a Holocaust survivor who survived
with one little brother and sister, who
gets saved in Switzerland and spends 20 or
more years as a missionary to the Bantu tribe
in Angola. She was probably the only person
who ever spoke Yiddish and Swahili (or
whatever they spoke there). She was a beautiful
believer who said she would rather go
back to the jungle to these bushmen in Africa
than her own people in Israel because they
were so hard.
Praise God things are changing in Israel—God
is plainly doing something. But if
someone goes to a mission field to which God
has not called them, no matter what it is, they
will not survive. We have to abide in Him. We
can much try, like Jacob did, to do it in our
own strength.
The Typology of Precious Stones
and Metals
Now if any man builds on the foundation
with gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will
become evident; for the day will show it
because it is to be revealed with fire, and
the fire itself will test the quality of each
man’s work. If any man’s work which he
has built on it remains, he will receive a
reward. If any man’s work is burned up,
he will suffer loss; but he himself will be
saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians
3:12-15)
We have organizations in Israel, as an
Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

example, which have right motives, and in
some way are even doing right things, but it
is according to their ideas and not God’s. So
they will sign an agreement with the Israeli
government and say they will not evangelize
Russian Jews, they will not give them New
Testaments, they are just going to bring them
to Israel. (They did that and got into a big fight
with Jews for Jesus and others.) One boat had
ten Jews on it; another had none, so they began
carrying tourists. Although they received
millions in contributions to do this, God did
not bless it because it was man’s idea. These
are good people who loved the Lord and had
good intentions, but why did God not bless it
They were people trying to do things in the
strength of their own ideas. Sooner or later it
is going to be tested with fire (1 Co. 3:13), and
only the things God has ordained will survive
that fire. Many of the things we do in our lives
as believers we do with the right motives, and
maybe even to a degree God will use it, but
He is not going to bless it and prosper it, nor
will He reward us for it.
It talks about these materials which will be
burned up. Somehow the fall of man and the
Gospel of Jesus are parenthetical. God foreknows
what happens, but we are not born to
be born-again; we are born to go to heaven to
be God’s children—His friends. We are His
creation to love Him, to serve Him, to worship
Him, to share in His blessings. The Fall
is somehow parenthetical. The premise of the
Gospel is to restore, in a sense, the things lost
because of the Fall.
The gold of that land is good; the bdellium
and the onyx stone are there.
(Genesis 2:12)
This is before the Fall—gold and precious
stones.
In 1 Corinthians 3:12 we have silver. Jesus
was betrayed for silver; Joseph was betrayed
for silver; “For iron I will give you silver” (Is.
60:17). Silver always represents the price of
salvation in some way. In the typology of the
Temple, the further one went from the Holy
of Holies, the value of the minerals proportionately
decreased. Silver was in the middle.
It began with bronze, then silver, but in the
Holy of Holies it was gold. The closer one approached
God, the more valuable the minerals.
They did not have platinum in those days
(they probably did not know about it—metallurgy
did not even know how to produce it) so
gold was the most precious thing they knew
about in the times of the Bible.
Look at what happens after salvation.
The foundation stones of the city wall
were adorned with every kind of precious
stone. The first foundation stone
was jasper; the second, sapphire; the
third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the
seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the
ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the
eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls;
each one of the gates was a single pearl.
And the street of the city was pure gold,
like transparent glass. (Revelation
21:19-21)
The streets of the city are pure gold.
Before the Fall we have precious stones in
settings of gold; after the redemption process
is complete we have precious stones in settings
of gold. There is no silver, as silver is of
temporal value. Silver will oxidize, gold will
not. But silver is at least of some temporal
value; the wood and straw are of no value.
In the High Priest’s garments there was the
breastplate like righteousness and the shoulder
pads with precious stones corresponding
to the tribes of Israel, which in turn correspond
to those precious stones in Revelation. The
High Priest had to carry the burden of Israel
on his heart and shoulders. He could not take
the ephod off. When we pray for somebody
we intercede for them—we carry the burden
on our heart and shoulders. We do not take it
off. The High Priest, we are told in Hebrews,
is the Lord Jesus who carries the burden for
Israel on His heart and shoulders—He does
not take it off. But those are precious stones
in a setting of gold.
Peter says the same thing: “Your faith refined
by fire” (1 Pe. 1:7).
How are diamonds formed Pressure and
fire. How is God going to make you and me
something that is a precious stone in a setting
of gold—godly Pressure and fire.
Who wants pressure Who wants fire Not
me! But once we get that beautiful diamond,
we are sure glad we went through it. When
we get to heaven we are not going to regret
a single trial that God was in because we are
going to be a precious stone in a setting of
gold; the other stuff will be burned up. Unsaved
people, of course, do not even figure
into the equation.
The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians is God’s
nature, and in the Greek it gives the idea that
the fruit is first of all love. The fruit of the
Spirit is first love—all the other fruits proceed
from the love. We usually say the fruit of the
Spirit is joy, peace, patience, kindness and
all that other stuff (Gal. 5:22-23), but no, the
fruit is love; the other things are a result of the
love, perfecting the love of Christ in us.
Not the Sin, but the Sinner
The way God gets rid of sin is first by getting
rid of the sinner. God does not take away
your anger problem, or my anger problem, or
your resentment problem, or my resentment
problem, He takes away you; He takes away
me. The Lord Jesus never said while on the
cross, “I am dying for your sins,” full stop. He
said, “I am dying for your sins so you better
get up here with Me.” That is the way it is.
God does not get rid of the sin; He gets rid of
the sinner.
The problem is that the natural man is a
sinner. The devil does not have to get us to
lose our temper, or to lust after someone other
than our wife or husband, or to get us to do
whatever—all he has to do is to get us into
Feature Article – Continued
the natural man or the natural woman, then
we are going to sin anyway. The rest is easy.
Once he gets us to do that, we are a pushover.
God has to get rid of the natural man.
I have seen this. When Christians get into
serving God in the natural man like Jacob did,
what happens They actually sin and lie. I can
show you actual letters proving that leaders of
major Christian denominations in this country
have lied about things they can be sued in
court for. The natural man is, naturally, fallen.
The devil is not out to get us to sin—that
is not his target because we are going to sin
anyway. He is going to get us to walk in the
flesh instead of the Spirit, and the first way he
will try to do that is to get us to be a Christian
in our own sense.
In the New Testament we have somebody
very much like Jacob, and his name is Peter.
When that guy came for Jesus, Peter pulled
out his sword and chopped his ear off! Peter
pulled out his sword: “Where is He Let me
at him!”—just like Jacob. But when the real
test came “Before the cock crows twice, you
will deny me thrice” (Mk. 14:29-31).
It is a sure bet that a crisis God is going to
allow is a crisis in which we face it as the natural
man or the natural woman and we are going
to fail miserably. Not until what God did
in the life of Peter do we see Peter standing up
in boldness at the day of Pentecost. Not long
before that, just a few weeks earlier, it was,
“I do not know the man” and following at a
distance. But at Pentecost with the Holy Spirit,
there he was, not afraid of those crowds.
Something happened. It was the same person,
the same natural ability, but the natural ability
had gone to the cross. Jacob is like that.
Natural Ability & God’s Calling
It is a good thing to be a teacher; it is a good
thing to be a medical doctor. There are countries
which will never allow in missionaries
but will allow in teachers or medical doctors.
That is how to get the Gospel into certain
countries. It is good to be a musician, but it
is one thing to be a good musician who plays
“Christian music”—it is another thing to lead
worship under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
It is one thing to be a good medical doctor,
but it is another thing to be anointed by the
Holy Spirit as a medical missionary. The natural
man and the natural woman have to go
to the cross—not just the sinner, not just the
drug dealer, not just the fornicator, the whole
person has to go to the cross, and then God in
the power of the resurrection can use their human
ability, their vocation, their background.
Jacob had all these things. He was a
shrewd, slick person. He was so shrewd and
so slick that it kept backfiring on him, which
is just what the Jews are like. Jewish people
somehow know that they have been forced to
be clever and shrewd; that is why they keep
winding up in pogroms and inquisitions—it
backfires on them, and it will backfire on us.
When we rely on the natural person and think,
“I’m a good businessman” or whatever abili-
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly

Feature Article – Continued
ties we have (which God gave us), God is not
going to use them until they have gone to the
cross. The natural man has to go.
There are four stages in Jacob’s life. Genesis
25-27 is Jacob as he was. It is encouraging
when we see the way he was and some of the
things he did and yet God loved him and chose
him anyway. It gives me a great deal of assurance
and solace. Genesis 28-31 is the testing
and breaking of Jacob, but then comes the real
crisis point in Genesis 32-36, the “Jabbok Experience”—the
dislocation of his natural life.
And finally in Genesis 37-50 comes the peaceful
fruit of righteousness. Yet even then at the
end of his life and as an old man, Jacob said,
“My life has been difficult” (Gen. 47:9). Not
too many of the great men of the Bible died
happy, but they were mostly all happy to die!
When we have it too good in this world,
we all must have a cross. Why If we do not,
we begin to trust in this world and begin to
get comfortable in it. The cross is for our own
good to keep us out of trouble. We are very
good at getting ourselves into trouble because
we are new creations living in a natural man.
Again, Jacob had the promise of God but was
always trying to get it in his own strength.
He was clever. He was good at scheming
and out-manipulating other people who were
themselves clever and good at scheming. The
blessings were provided to him in the promise
of God, but he felt he had to get them in his
own strength.
It says in Timothy that there are good
works He foreordained for us, and the calling
is from eternity (2 Ti. 1:9). We are not simply
born-again to go to heaven—that is ultimately
true, but we are born-again to do something
now. At some point in life God will show us
what that is—our gifts, our ministry, etc. But
the natural propensity of our human nature is
going to be to get it according to our human
abilities. “I’m a good businessman,” “I’m a
good teacher,” “I’m a good speaker,” “I’m a
good organizer,” “I’m a good musician”—the
natural propensity is going to be to try to get
it according to our own natural devices. That
is what goes to the cross.
Jacob’s Ladder
What happened to Jacob at Bethel “Bethel”
means “the house of God” and it is also
where his father had a turning point experience
in his walk with God (Gen. 12:8; 13:3-
4). Turning point experiences in our walk with
God will always happen at Bethel. If we are
not in church in fellowship, at least a place of
Christians and meetings, we are not going to
reach that turning point with God.
We have a very big problem now. All over
this country, because of the things like the
“Toronto Experience” and the “Lakeland Fiasco,”
because of financial manipulation and
exploitation of Christians, because of false
doctrines, there are Christians who have no
church, so they are meeting at home. These
people in home groups are beginning to meet
with other people in home groups in schools
and things like that. The point is, the church
may not impress us, the church may disappoint
us. In fact the church will disappoint us
because the church is made up of people just
like us.
Jacob was bored in church (at Bethel)—he
fell asleep (Gen. 28:10-17). But what did
he see
He had a dream, and behold, a ladder
was set on the earth with its top reaching
to heaven; and behold, the angels of
God were ascending and descending on
it. (Genesis 28:12)
What do we see in the Gospel of John Jesus
was talking to Nathaniel.
And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say
to you, you will see the heavens opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending
on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)
This is describing “Jacob’s Ladder.” We
may not think much of church, but when God
lowers the ladder from heaven, that is where
its base arrives: it comes to the Body of Christ.
That is where the ladder comes to and He
climbs down. When we find people who are
out of fellowship when they have a viable option
to be in fellowship, they have a problem.
Today, in this country, we have a crisis. We
have received many letters and messages from
people being thrown out of their churches
because of things like Toronto. We once had
a man walk into our office from Lister Hill
Baptist Church in Leeds who was very much
into Toronto, very much into women leadership,
very much into ecumenism, and he was
thrown out because he objected to the following:
a trans-sexual transvestite had himself
castrated, wears women’s clothes and women’s
hairstyles, comes to church and breaks
the bread in holy communion at an Evangelical,
charismatic, Toronto Blessing Baptist
church. The people in this church accept
“her” as a sister in faith, and her “ministry” is
breaking the bread for holy communion even
though the DNA in every cell of his body says
he is not a “sister” in faith. He is a backslidden
brother, if he was a believer to begin with,
and he needs to repent. They threw this guy
out because he said this is an abomination.
People say to me, “What is going to be
worse than what took place in Toronto or
Lakeland” Most of us have seen these videos
of Rodney Howard-Browne, Kenneth Copeland,
Todd Bentley and company, and are absolutely
appalled. What is going to be worse
It is going to come to immorality. What we
see in Lister Hill Baptist is only a harbinger of
what is going to come. The Word of God gives
us patterns, and these things are going to come
to immorality. So we have people with nowhere
to go. Every day we get requests from
people, “Where can I go What can I do”
Jacob does not realize it while he is there,
so God shows it to him in a dream.
So Jacob rose early in the morning, and
took the stone that he had put under his
head and set it up as a pillar and poured
oil on its top.
(It was an anointed place.)
He called the name of that place Bethel…
(“The house of God”)
…however, previously the name of the
city had been Luz. Then Jacob made a
vow, saying, “If God will be with me and
will keep me on this journey that I take,
and will give me food to eat and garments
to wear,
(He was not asking for much, just his needs.)
and I return to my father’s house in safety,
then the LORD will be my God. “This
stone, which I have set up as a pillar,
will be God’s house, and of all that You
give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
(Genesis 28:18-22)
The church is an anointed place.
One of the problems of the natural man is
he thinks he does not need the fellowship of
other believers—that he does not have to come
to the house of God. I was at a Full Gospel
Businessman’s meeting and there were those
standing up and saying, “God has shown me
to get away from this” and “I’m fulfilled in
the Lord so I don’t need this.” That is not
God. It is an anointed place. If we want Jesus
to come down from heaven and meet with us
on that ladder, He is going to do it in the house
of God; that is the place He has ordained.
That was a turning point, a pivotal place for
Abraham as well as Jacob, and it is going to
be for us as well. But the natural man thinks
he can stand alone. No, the Bible says, “Iron
sharpens iron” (Pr. 27:17).
God is sovereign. He did not come to save
you, He came to save all of us. Jesus is not
coming for you, He is coming for His Bride.
You have to be part of it. The natural man
thinks he can stand alone, but he cannot. He
thinks He can meet with God on his own
terms, but he cannot. It is in the house of God
that the ladder is going to come down.
Again, I feel very sorry for those people
whose only choice seems to be between Kenneth
Hagin’s church up the street or the ecumenical
one around the corner or the Toronto
one beneath the bed, but God has a solution
for that problem. I do not know what it is yet,
but Jesus still wants to come down that ladder
and meet with us, and it is going to happen in
the house of God.
The Character of a “Shrewdy”
God knew what Jacob was like. Look how
Jacob “made a vow” (Gen. 28:20). “If you
give me this, I’ll give you that.” Jews love
to negotiate. How are we going to negotiate
with God God lays down the terms of the
covenant. God knew Jacob wanted to make a
deal. God knew that Jacob was going to try to
attain these blessings and purposes and callings
of God in his own strength. Did God try
to rebuke him and say, “Jacob, don’t do that”
No. I could speak until I was blue in the face
and try to tell you, “Don’t do that” because I
Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

can stand in front of the mirror and tell myself
until I am blue in the face, “Don’t do that.”
But I am going to do it anyway and so are
you. The only question is how long it is going
to take for God to work out that breaking in
our life There is nothing we can do to get
where God wants us to be any faster, but there
is a whole lot we can do to slow it down.
Remember the children of Israel going to
the Promised Land out of Egypt This was a
small distance. Even by foot one could make
it in a couple of weeks and it took them forty
years! The second generation entered the
Promised Land, not the first. The old creation
has to die in this world; only the new creation
can go to heaven. There is nothing we can do
to make it faster, but there is a whole lot we
can do to slow it down, and Jacob could sure
slow it down. Jacob gets stuck with Laban for
fourteen years.
In Genesis 28:20 it is, “You do this and I’ll
do that.” Jacob left his wealth to come to poverty
for a period and, like Isaac, to Laban’s
family. And this all gives the background to the
woman at the well, of course, in Genesis 29.
He said, “Behold, it is still high day…
(When he comes to the woman at the well.)
…it is not time for the livestock to be gathered.
Water the sheep, and go, pasture
them.” But they said, “We cannot, until
all the flocks are gathered, and they roll
the stone from the mouth of the well; then
we water the sheep.” (Genesis 29:7-8)
What kind of water is in the well Living
water—“mayim hayim” (Jn. 4:10). According
to John 7:39 what is living water The Holy
Spirit. Rolling away the stone is a picture of
what Resurrection. The Holy Spirit cannot
come until Jesus has been resurrected, then
the sheep can be gathered. God is working
out His purposes all along.
Jacob is a “shrewdy”; he is clever. How
does God deal with shrewd and clever people
He teams them up with somebody who is
more devious and ruthless than they are.
Did God ever put you in a relationship
with another believer who was more calculating
than you are I am not going to make any
jokes about my wife, but the person we marry
is the person God is going to use to deal with
our flesh. God does not have us in a church
just to be a blessing and enjoy the good things
of God, he has us in a church to have conflicts
with other believers who are going to rub us
the wrong way on purpose. Do you think you
are shrewd Do you think you are slick I was
so slick that, just like Jacob, I wound up with
years lost to Laban.
I travelled all around the world first class,
I had friends at the top of the pop music industry,
I had tons of money, and I wound up
working in a pharmacy in Haifa, Israel in a
stetl—an ultra-orthodox ghetto, for years.
There I was, on one side of the wall filling
prescriptions, and on the other side of the
wall were those belonging to the anti-mission
organizations. I was spying on them for
years. I thought that one of these days these
guys are going to find me giving out tracts
and that is going to be the end of my job, the
end of everything. God always protected me;
God always blinded them. When I saw them
coming I would hit the road—just pack up my
tracts and run. It was terrible to be counting
pills. I hated it, it was boring, it was stupid.
Not only that, but after I got saved I thought
my days of selling drugs were over. Boy, did
I have another think coming! God can redeem
anything, but it went on for years. But if you
use Hebrew every day you learn it a lot better
than if you do not have to use it.
When I used to eat in New York I was
afraid of the Orthodox Jews. I would not run
away but I would be nervous when I saw them
coming. Working in their neighborhood, and
living in their neighborhood, and dealing with
them every day, I learned so much about their
culture and about the way they are and the secret
things in their life. They do not believe
in birth control, but their women take the pill.
They take a lot of valium because they are
neurotic. I learned so much that God brought
out of that terrible experience, but that was
my place of God’s dealing with me. I do not
know what your place is going to be, but God
will put you together with a “Laban.”
Jacob was a good con-man—he grabbed
his brother’s heel. Laban conned him, gave
him the wrong girl. Then Jacob conned Laban
with the cattle. He is always striving in the
flesh—“I’ll get him.”
In this you greatly rejoice, even though
now for a little while, if necessary, you
have been distressed by various trials,
so that the proof of your faith, being
more precious than gold which
is perishable, even though tested by
fire, may be found to result in praise
and glory and honor at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6-7)
What is more precious than gold The diamonds
that are in it.
Jacob’s wages kept changing, he got the
wrong girl and he wound up being there something
on the order of twenty years instead of
the initial seven to which he agreed. But then
something else happens with Jacob at the climax,
which is the second phase: God’s breaking.
Then comes the dark night of the soul.
Even the mystical Christians of the Middle
Ages knew about it.
Breaking Before Blessing
After twenty years, Jacob did not learn as
much as he should have. And after more than
twenty years as a Christian, I have not learned
as much as I should have. There is a lot more
of “Jacob” in some of us than others. But I
will tell you that the more intelligent you are,
the more educated you are, the more clever
you are, the better your business abilities, the
more you have going for you humanly speaking,
the more difficult God’s breaking is going
to be in your life.
Feature Article – Continued
Think of the little boy who brought Jesus
his picnic lunch (Jn. 6:9). The little boy from
Galilee takes his picnic lunch and gives it to
Jesus, who takes it, blesses it, breaks it, then
uses it to feed others. Do we want God to
use our natural abilities—whatever we have
“Lord, bless me!” He will bless you. “Lord,
use me!” He will use you. But before He can
use you, and after He blesses you, there is a
hidden ingredient: God does not bless who
He does not break, and He does not use who
He does not break. This little kid did not have
much; it was easy for him to have it broken.
“Lord, I have a Ph.D.!” “I spent thirty years
building this business!” We can see how hard
that person is going to break. They are going
to be a “Jacob.” The more someone has going
for them the harder God’s breaking is going
to be in their life.
God’s values are the opposite of the
world’s. First of all, it is harder for humanlyadvantaged
people to be saved than disadvantaged.
The simpler one is, the poorer one is,
the easier it is to be saved because there is
less ground for pride. Secondly, after one gets
saved, the less they have going for them the
easier it is for God to mold them because the
human person is not going to be as strong.
Thirdly, the more one has going for them, the
more accountable they are. God gave them
more natural ability so He expects more out
of them. He expects more out of them so they
are going to go through worse trials than other
people before He can use them. His values are
always the opposite.
The world says, “I want money, privilege,
advantage,” but when God gives those things
it is going to be harder to get saved—not by
His choice, but according to our fallen nature.
God’s breaking is going to be more difficult,
but not only that, those He breaks are going
to be more accountable. Look at Paul; he was
educated, Peter was not. God used Paul more
than He used Peter, but look at how the breaking
in Paul’s life was worse than Peter’s. The
more someone has going for them, the more
God’s breaking is going to be and the more
He will hold them accountable. It is always
the opposite of human values. There is a lot
more of “Jacob” in some of us than others.
Yet, in spite of his transgressing and scheming,
God loved him.
There were certain events in Jacob’s life
that no matter what he did, he would see God
revealing Himself in a personal way, saying,
“Jacob, I love you, I chose you, I called you
and I have brought you this far, I am going
to take you the rest of the way.” The grace of
God is marvelous, is it not No matter how
many times we blow it, no matter how many
times we fall and goof up, there are going to
be times in the life of believers when God is
going to reveal Himself to them personally
and say, “I love you anyway; I chose you anyway;
I called you anyway—I have a place I
am taking you and you are going to get there
whether you like it or not.”
For I am confident of this very thing,
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly

Feature Article – Continued
that He who began a good work in you
will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 1:6)
Do not backslide; hang in there—He will
get you there. But now we get to the dark
night of the soul.
Two Camps
There will come a point in our life as a bornagain
Christian where if we continue with Jesus
we are going to go through a kind of trial
different than any other kind of trial we have
gone through before or will go through after.
We have two kinds of trials in the Bible:
“valley” and “wilderness.” A “valley” is a
single trial, a “wilderness” is a prolonged period
of testing, frequently associated with the
number forty in the Bible. This is a valley that
is longer than other valleys and a wilderness
that is more deadly than other wildernesses. It
is a desert among deserts. To Jacob it happened
at Peniel, the brook of Jabbok. And what Jacob
did is what we would expect Jacob to do.
Early in the morning Laban arose, and
kissed his sons and his daughters and
blessed them. Then Laban departed and
returned to his place. (Genesis 31:55)
Jacob thinks that is the end of his trial. He
goes through this for fourteen years. There
is the colloquialism, “It is darkest before the
dawn.” That is true. The colloquialism that is
false is, “There is light at the end of the tunnel.”
There is no light at the end of the tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel there is the worst
darkness of all, then comes the light.
After fourteen years of this stuff (seven of
them spent for the other girl)—years spent
trying to out-manipulate each other, Jacob
thinks, “Finally, it’s over! Now I can revert to
what God promised me at Bethel, what God
promised by parents when I was born! I can
go get that blessing now. God has worked
these things out in my life after these years
of putting up with Laban, of putting up with
somebody else like me.”
Notice that the people who revolt us the
most humanly are the people who are the
most like us. The people we see with our own
negative traits and characteristics will be the
people we have the most friction with. The
people who irk us the most are the people
most like us, especially if they are even more
like us than we are.
Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels
of God met him. Jacob said when he
saw them, “This is God’s camp.” So he
named that place Mahanaim.
(Meaning “two camps”)
Then Jacob sent messengers before him
to his brother Esau in the land of Seir,
the country of Edom. He also commanded
them saying, “Thus you shall say to
my lord Esau…
He knew that this guy did not like him, and
he knew why he did not like him, and he even
knew he ruined this guy in some way.
“Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have
sojourned with Laban, and stayed until
now; I have oxen and donkeys and flocks
and male and female servants; and I
have sent to tell my lord, that I may find
favor in your sight.’” (Genesis 32:1-5)
It is like saying, “I have a car dealership!
Go over and pick one! You want an El Dorado
You want a Mercedes I’ll give you the
keys! My brother, I love you! Please take it
and leave! Drive out of here!”
Why is it called “Mahanaim”—“two
camps” I grew up in New Jersey right across
the river from New York City, and in our
neighborhood was a close friend of my parents
who owned a chain of liquor stores called
“Harry’s” but his real name was Haime. People
thought it was “Harry” but friends like
my parents called him “Haime,” and he was
what we called a “good” Jew because even
Gentiles liked him. One of his sons was Arthur
who managed this chain of liquor stores.
What most people did not know is that Arthur
was also a dentist. Everybody thought Arthur
was a businessman like his father, which he
was, but they did not know he was also a
dentist. “There might be a depression, there
might be prohibition, but people always have
toothaches.” He wanted a backup. He was
clever that way. Jewish people are clever that
way, having a survival mentality as a result of
their history, and they go through it that way.
So Jacob puts it into two camps. “If my shoe
store goes down the tubes, I can always sell
roses.” He is always shrewd, always trying to
figure out how to survive.
My wife is like that. My wife’s parents
were Holocaust survivors and then they were
Refuseniks under Ceausescu. For my wife, in
the way she was brought up, it was not so important
to clean the house, cook, or sew—you
could always get a shiksa to do that. With her
it was different: How many languages do you
speak How educated are you How clever
are you in business Do you have a profession
that will always be needed if you have
to run Everything was survival-oriented. If
“this” fails you will still have everything; it is
just the mentality.
Jacob puts them into two camps; he is always
scheming.
I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and
male and female servants; and I have
sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor
in your sight.”’”
The messengers returned to Jacob, saying,
“We came to your brother Esau, and
furthermore he is coming to meet you,
and four hundred men are with him.”
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed;
and he divided the people who
were with him, and the flocks and the
herds and the camels, into two companies;
for he said, “If Esau comes to the
one company and attacks it, then the
company which is left will escape.”
Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham
and God of my father Isaac, O
LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your
country and to your relatives, and I will
prosper you,’ I am unworthy of all the
lovingkindness…
(“I know I’m no good—I repent! Please
get me out of this!” When we are in trouble,
boy, do we get religious.)
…and of all the faithfulness which You
have shown to Your servant; for with my
staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now
I have become two companies. Deliver
me, I pray, from the hand of my brother,
from the hand of Esau; for I fear him,
that he will come and attack me and the
mothers with the children.
(He is afraid for his family now.)
“For You said, ‘I will surely prosper
you and make your descendants as the
sand of the sea, which is too great to be
numbered.’” (Genesis 32:1-12)
He begins to doubt the promises of God so
he has to remind God.
The Dark Night of the Soul
When we are in the dark night of the soul,
we begin to doubt the promises God gave us
and we begin scheming and praying and doing
everything we can because now we know
it is coming. And then what happens Jacob
schemes further after he prays.
He commanded the one in front, saying,
“When my brother Esau meets you and
asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong,
and where are you going, and to
whom do these animals in front of you
belong’ then you shall say, ‘These belong
to your servant Jacob; it is a present
sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he
also is behind us.’” (Genesis 32:17-18)
He tries to buy him off. “You got the cash,
I’ve got the absolution!” (That is what they
say in Ireland: “High money, High Mass; low
money, Low Mass; no money, Purgatory.”)
Now he arose that same night and took
his two wives and his two maids and his
eleven children, and crossed the ford of
the Jabbok. He took them and sent them
across the stream. And he sent across
whatever he had. Then Jacob was left
alone, and a man wrestled with him until
daybreak. When he saw that he had
not prevailed against him, he touched
the socket of his thigh; so the socket of
Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he
wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let
me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But
he said, “I will not let you go unless you
bless me.” So he said to him, “What is
your name” And he said, “Jacob.” He
said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob,
but Israel; for you have striven with
God and with men and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please
tell me your name.” But he said, “Why
is it that you ask my name” And he
10 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

lessed him there. So Jacob named the
place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen
God face to face, yet my life has been
preserved.”
(“No man can see God and live” (Ex.
33:20). That is why, you see, Jesus had to become
a man.)
Now the sun rose upon him just as he
crossed over Penuel, and he was limping
on his thigh. Therefore, to this day
the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew
of the hip which is on the socket of the
thigh, because he touched the socket of
Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
(Genesis 32:22-32)
We see how “Jacob” always has to do with
the sons of Israel, specifically the Jews.
He is blessed alone. When the dark night
of the soul happens in our life we will be left
alone. Other Christians will not be able to relate
to our trial; not even our family can help
us. It is a lonely experience. There is nobody
there but us and the Lord, and we think he is
against us. We wrestle with God: “Why are You
doing this Why did You bother to save me
Why did You choose me Why did You give
me these promises if You are not going to keep
them and destroy me” All of his scheming
would not work anymore—he was in trouble.
This angel is called “the angel of the Lord”
with a definite article in Hebrew. The Talmud
calls Him in Greek the “Metatrone”—“the angel
who dwells at the center of the throne.” It
is a “Christophany,” an Old Testament manifestation
of Jesus. He wrestles with Jesus to
the end of the night, the dark night of his soul,
and he prevails. How does he prevail By losing
the fight.
Winning by Losing
This is the only way we are going to get
God’s blessing and prevail. God’s values are
always present within us and we think we
have to pin them down and make them say,
“Uncle!” God says, “No, you have to lose. I’ll
make you say, ‘Uncle!’ and then you’ll win
the fight.”
Jacob’s femur—the thigh bone, is dislocated.
The femur is the strongest bone in
the human body. I am told that you can rest
a Volkswagen on the femur of an adult male
and it will not break.
Before I was saved I was a coke dealer. I
used to smuggle hash in Africa and dope in
South America. I used to go to parties with
rock stars. I knew how to manipulate them; I
knew how the game was played. I knew how
to make money. I used to embezzle money
with a computer. I went through a dark night
of the soul. For me it was two years and one
month. It was terrible. It was not trials, it was
not breaking, it was death of the natural man.
After that, Jacob walked with a limp. After
we have a dark night of the soul, we will walk
with a limp. Remember, the femur is the place
of greatest human strength. We walk with a
limp. What will happen when we come to the
Jabbok experience in our walk as a Christian
God will touch your place of greatest human
strength. Our personality, our intellect, our
good looks—whatever it is, that is what He
is going to hit: our place of greatest strength.
We are going to walk with a limp and we will
never be the same again.
How long will it last Until the end of
the night.
No one who is really serious about attaining
the blessings and purposes of God for their
lives will not go through this at some point.
How long the night is, how bad that breaking
will be is relative to the individual. After
it happens they will never be the same, but
after it happens, then God blesses us. After it
happens, then God uses our human abilities.
Why Because we do not rely on them anymore;
we walk with a limp. We no longer trust
our own sense, we do not trust the natural man,
we have learned the hard way what happens
when we do that. Then we get that blessing.
A New Name
Jacob prevails and he gets a new name.
What does it say in Revelation “You have a
new name” (Rev.2:17).
It is interesting that after this, when Jacob
behaved in his old nature after Peniel, Genesis
calls him “Jacob,” but when he behaves
like the new creation it calls him “Israel.” It
is the same with us. When we behave like the
old natural man or woman, God calls us by
our old name, but when we behave like the
broken man or woman who prevailed and got
the blessing—who behave as spiritual men
and women—He calls us by the new name.
I have two names, you have two names, we
all have two names. We got one when we were
born, but we got another when we were bornagain.
But we have to have that name in the
Book of Life, and we have to earn the right to
be called by it. We have to wrestle, we have
to prevail, we have to get the blessing. We are
all “Jacob.” We all have to have that breaking,
we all have to have that dark night of the soul,
but when it is over we do not regret it.
Part 2 – the lesson for israel
The Question of the Tribes
James, a bond-servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes
who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
(James 1:1)
There may be some intended spiritual
meaning in James’ address to “the twelve
tribes,” but as a genre, epistles do not use typology
or figurative meaning without assuming
the believers understand what it means.
Epistles are to be taken literally.
We know that in the Book of Luke, Anna
was from the tribe of Asher (Lk. 2:36). Most
Christians have the wrong idea that the ten
northern tribes—all but Benjamin, Judah
and the Levites—went into captivity. That
Feature Article – Continued
is wrong; the faithful people in Israel came
south to Judah. (Faithful people will always
leave unfaithful churches before the judgment
of God comes on them.) They kept their
identities in the Second Temple period all the
way to the time of Jesus.
In the UK there is a something which dates
back to at least the last century called “Anglo-
Israelism.” My grandparents were from the
north of England, except my one grandmother
was from Glasgow, and I saw some people
who were into Anglo-Israelism in Speaker’s
Corner. They had all this British stuff in Hebrew,
one of them titled, A Covenant with
Man. They said things like, “The lion of Judah
is the lion of Scotland,” and insisted that
the Aran Islands were named after Aaron.
They had it all worked out. (When they found
out my little daughter was born in Israel and
her family was from Scotland and England,
they thought she stepped out of a flying saucer.)
This stuff has absolutely no biblical or
anthropological basis whatsoever.
The Celtic peoples, anthropologically, are
not one nation, but many: there are the Cornish,
the Scottish, the Welsh, the Irish. These
have certain things in common. But then the
other inhabitants of the British Isles are Anglo-Saxons—Germanic
people. Then come
the Normans—Vikings who came to France
and then to England. There are several strata
of people who invaded Great Britain and
were integrated into the British identity over
a period of many centuries. The British are
not one, pure stock—they never have been.
So how do people come up with something
like Anglo-Israelism There are no Semitic
features. Just go to the people with Semitic
features: Yemenites, Jews, Sephardic Jews,
Arabs, pure-blooded Bedouins—do they look
like people from England No, they do not. It
is almost as ridiculous anthropologically as it
is theologically.
The twelve tribes are the basis. In Revelation
4 we see the twenty-four elders, who
would seem to be the twelve apostles and the
twelve sons of Jacob. But there is all manner
of spiritualizing away the literal basis of the
twelve tribes.
If we were to go to the Domitian Abbey
(a Roman Catholic place) in Jerusalem, we
would see three concentric circles cut up like
a pie into twelve sections. The innermost section
contains the twelve names of the sons of
Jacob, the twelve patriarchs of Israel, one for
each tribe. The second circle, corresponding
to the twelve sons of Jacob, represents the
names of the twelve Apostles. Can you guess
what is in the outermost circle The Zodiac.
I get letters and email from people who
think I have it all figured out. Believe me, I do
not have it all figured out. I may know what
people say about things like Revelation 7—I
know the prevailing opinions, but I am not going
to teach something unless I am sure that
the Holy Spirit has shown me what it means.
“What about the 144,000” they ask. “How
will God know which tribes modern Jews be-
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 11

Feature Article – Continued
long to Do you think they are literal Jews”
Obviously the sealing of the 144,000 Jews
replays the story of Ezekiel going into the city
and marking the anointed of the Lord before
the judgment came (Eze. 9:48).
The 144,000
And I heard the number of those who
were sealed, one hundred and forty-four
thousand sealed from every tribe of the
sons of Israel: From the tribe of Judah,
twelve thousand were sealed, from the
tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from
the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from
the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from
the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Simeon twelve
thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve
thousand, from the tribe of Issachar
twelve thousand, from the tribe of Zebulun
twelve thousand, from the tribe
of Joseph twelve thousand, from the
tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were
sealed. (Revelation 7:4-8)
Now let us look at Revelation 14:
Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was
standing on Mount Zion, and with Him
one hundred and forty-four thousand,
having His name and the name of His
Father written on their foreheads. And
I heard a voice from heaven, like the
sound of many waters and like the sound
of loud thunder, and the voice which I
heard was like the sound of harpists
playing on their harps. And they sang a
new song before the throne and before
the four living creatures and the elders;
and no one could learn the song except
the one hundred and forty-four thousand
who had been purchased from the earth.
(Revelation 14:1-3)
I am not going to try to figure out every
detail here because I do not know. I can tell
what other people say about it, but I will say
this: the first steps toward figuring it out is
not Revelation 7, it is not Revelation 14, it
is the final prophecy of Jacob in Genesis 49.
We cannot even be positive, and there is good
reason to believe, that these two groups of
144,000 are not even the same. One group
seems to be in heaven; the other seems to be
on earth. The description of one group is not
even the same as that of the other. One would
seem to be physical Jews, the other does not
necessarily seem to be.
The Issue of Identity
Anthropologically, who knows Arnold
Fruchtenbaum is right: the main thing is the
sign of the covenant in the giving of Jewish
identity. Jews have intermarried for centuries.
The entire Khazar Empire converted to Judaism.
Arthur Koestler and others agree that
the Ashkenazi Jewry came from the Khazar
Empire converted to Judaism. There were
massive conversions to Judaism in Morocco.
The whole Yemenite Empire converted. The
way that Constantine ostensibly converted
to Christendom is the same thing that happened
in the Jewish world. We would be hard
pressed, anthropologically, to make a case.
Jewish identity has to do with covenant.
Yes, there is the issue of the sons of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, but how does it define
“sons” Some of those sons of the twelve
tribes were born of servants. We cannot even
directly trace the genetic line in that sense. It
has to do with covenant.
How do we determine what tribe somebody
is from My wife’s family name is “Segal.”
They were a priestly family, assistants within
the Levites. People with names like “Levine,”
“Cohen” and such we can speculate go back
to those priestly families, but who knows
I do not know, and I am very skeptical of
people who say they have it all figured out.
What I know is that in order to figure it out,
it does not begin with Revelation; it begins
with Jacob.
We looked at what Jacob meant personally,
now we are going to look at what he means
for Israel and the Jews as a nation.
Again, Jacob was someone always looking
to attain the blessings and purposes of God
according to his natural reason and ability.
What have the Jewish people done They
have tried to attain the blessings and purposes
of God according to their natural thinking.
Talmudic Judaism, founded in Yavneh by
Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai is not the Judaism
of Torah, it is another Judaism. It is a product
of the natural minds of rabbis, developed in
the centuries afterward by rabbis like Akiva
and others, ultimately redefined as an Aristotelian
religion by Rambam, and even more on
top of that.
Jews know they are different from other
people, but they do not know why. It is amazing
that Alan Ginsberg, the Jewish poet in
America from the Beatnik era (I used to see
him around New York), tells us that his religion
is Buddhist. Jewish people do not believe
in God and they go to the Wailing Wall
in Jerusalem and begin crying even though
they do not know why. They know something,
but they do not know what it is they
know and they do not even know why they
know it. Think of unsaved Jewish people as a
kind of backslider. The new covenant in Jeremiah
31:31 was not made with the Church,
it was made with the house of Judah and the
house of Israel. They have broken that covenant.
Jewish people are backslidden.
When somebody is born-again and they fall
away from Jesus and go back to the world,
their life can never be normal or the same.
They can never fit in because they know that
something is wrong and it is eating away at
their soul all the time, but they can know
what it is; Jewish people have something eating
away at their soul but they do not know
what it is. The rabbis think they know, but the
rabbis disagree with each other as to what it
is. I was talking in Hebrew for a couple hours
to the president of the Orthodox rabbis in
Leeds, witnessing to him. He is a wonderful
man with plenty of knowledge but so little
understanding.
Jacob would always scheme to try to attain
the purpose, the blessing, the heritage by his
devices, and it always blew up in his face. The
Jews are the same way. No matter what the
Jewish people try, it will blow up in their face.
Their Return to the Land
There is only one place the Jews will be
a secure people, and it is not in the land of
Israel. The Jews were never secure in the land
of Israel; it is a strategically vulnerable place.
The biggest Jewish disasters before the Holocaust,
undoubtedly, were the events of AD
70, and Bar Kochba’s Rebellion in the second
century which were the equivalent of the Holocaust.
Proportionately it was the same kind
of mass extermination, and yet it happened in
their own land. The only place the Jews will be
secure is in the palm of their Messiah, Yeshua.
So much for these organizations claiming
that the Jews can be blessed by bringing them
back to Israel. The Jews are not going back to
Israel for the blessing of God. There is only
one way God can bless the Jew and it is the
same way He can bless anybody: through
faith in the Messiah. Because the Gospel was
available to them first, the consequences for
rejecting it are on them first (Rom.9-11). Jeremiah
30 talks about “the time of Jacob’s trouble”
(Jer. 30:7). The Jewish people are back
in Israel for “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”
The metaphor or figure of the night in
Scripture is a metaphor for the Great Tribulation.
Jesus said He is coming like a thief in
the night (Rev. 15:15). “Watchman, watchman
how far is the night” (Is. 21:11). “Is
he coming in the second watch of the night
or the third” (Lk. 12:38). “Work while you
have the light for night will come when no
man can work” (Jn. 9:4). The wise virgins
have oil in their lamps to see at night (Mt.
25:1-13). When did Jacob get the blessing
At the end of the night (Gen. 32:24-32). The
Jews are wrestling with God, and they will
continue to wrestle until the end of the night.
“Jacob” vs. “Israel”
The Bible speaks of the difference between
“Israel” and “Jacob.” Throughout Scripture
we see “Israel” and “Jacob” used at various
times. Why does God call them by both
names “Israel” has been broken. Galatians
speaks about the Israel of God—even Gentiles
are grafted into Israel by faith in some
sense, but “Jacob” as the Jewish people is
an unbroken state—their name has not been
changed yet. The blessing is for “Israel,” the
promise is for “Jacob.”
God cannot break His promises to the
Jews, but they are never going to get it while
they are still called “Jacob”; they are going
to get it when they are called “Israel.” When
12 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

God looks at Israel, what does He see “Israel”
No, He sees “Jacob.” When God looks
at Jewish believers He sees “Israel.”
“Jacob” personifies and typifies the Jewish
people. His whole, long life, in a sense,
was in preparation for this one factor. It was
not Abraham who began Israel, it was not
Isaac who began Israel, it was Jacob—the
twelve tribes came from him. Jacob gives a
prophecy in Genesis 49 for the Jewish people
whose ratifications encompass the whole of
history and of God’s salvific plan for everybody,
especially the Jews, extending all the
way to Revelation. When we read through the
Scriptures about the histories of the tribes of
Israel and what they did, what happened to
them and what they experienced, it winds up
with what Jacob predicts. His whole life is a
preparation for what he is going to do at the
end of it, and the entire history of Israel is a
preparation for what they are going to do at
the end of it. His whole life was in preparation
for this prophecy. Everything is a preparation
for this one climactic event. It probably
took him minutes. Imagine God preparing
someone for ten minutes of ministry But on
that ten minutes of ministry hinges the entire
future of prophetic history.
For the Jewish people it will be the same
thing. The promises are for “Jacob,” the
blessings are for “Israel.” At the very end it
is all going to make sense to the Church and
to them and then they are going to know why.
The first Christians were Jews, and no matter
what we hear, the last Christians are going
to be Jews. God is going to bless the Church
through Jewish people before He comes; everything
is preparing the world for that. This
is the framework for looking at Revelation 7.
Jacob’s Prophecy
Then Jacob summoned his sons and
said, “Assemble yourselves that I may
tell you what will befall you in the days
to come.
“Gather together and hear, O sons of
Jacob; And listen to Israel your father.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn; My
might and the beginning of my strength,
Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in
power. Uncontrolled as water, you shall
not have preeminence…
(The first shall be last and the last shall be
first.)
Because you went up to your father’s
bed; Then you defiled it—he went up to
my couch.
(The sins of the father are passed on to the
sons; only the cross can break that.)
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their
swords are implements of violence.
(This is because of what they did when
they slaughtered those people, even though
their anger had a good basis for it.)
“Let my soul not enter into their council
Let not my glory be united with their
assembly; Because in their anger they
slew men, And in their self-will they
lamed oxen.
(If they were people who were simply motivated
by righteous indignation, that would
be one thing, but when it is someone with a
bad temper just looking for an excuse to do
something, that is something else. They are
just getting the excuse they need to go on the
warpath. The great heroes of war are the people
who prefer peace.)
“Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And
their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse
them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.
(And, again, the history of the tribes is
played out.)
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your
enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow
down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He couches, he lies down as a lion,And
as a lion, who dares rouse him up
(It talks here about the lion of Judah.)
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between
his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him
shall be the obedience of the peoples. He
ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s
colt to the choice vine; He washes his
garments in wine, And his robes in the
blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from
wine, And his teeth white from milk.
“Zebulun will dwell at the seashore; And
he shall be a haven for ships,
(That is the land they received when the
land was appropriated by Joshua.)
And his flank shall be toward Sidon. “Issachar
is a strong donkey, Lying down
between the sheepfolds. When he saw
that a resting place was good And that
the land was pleasant, He bowed his
shoulder to bear burdens, And became
a slave at forced labor.
“Dan shall judge his people, As one of
the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent
in the way, A horned snake in the
path, That bites the horse’s heels, So
that his rider falls backward. For Your
salvation I wait, O LORD.
(It all points to Jesus.)
“Issachar is a strong donkey, “As for
Gad, raiders shall raid him, But he will
raid at their heels.
“As for Asher, his food shall be rich, And
he will yield royal dainties.
“Naphtali is a doe let loose, He gives
beautiful words.
“Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful
bough by a spring; Its branches run over
a wall. The archers bitterly attacked
him, And shot at him and harassed him;
But his bow remained firm, And his
arms were agile, From the hands of the
Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the
Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), From the
God of your father who helps you, And
by the Almighty who blesses you With
blessings of heaven above, Blessings of
the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of
the breasts and of the womb. The blessings
of your father Have surpassed the
blessings of my ancestors Up to the utmost
bound of the everlasting hills; May
they be on the head of Joseph,
(He typifies the Messiah.)
And on the crown of the head of the one
distinguished among his brothers.
(Again, he typifies the Lord.)
Feature Article – Continued
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the
morning he devours the prey, And in the
evening he divides the spoil.”
(The early Church somehow saw this as a
prophecy about Paul, that in the morning he
would be a ravenous wolf and devour the prey
the way he first persecuted the Church, but in
the end he would divide the spoil by bringing
blessing and provision to God’s people after
his conversion.)
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and
this is what their father said to them when
he blessed them. He blessed them, every
one with the blessing appropriate to him.
(They play out the history of what he said.)
Then he charged them and said to them,
“I am about to be gathered to my people;
bury me with my fathers in the cave that
is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the
cave that is in the field of Machpelah,
which is before Mamre, in the land of
Canaan, which Abraham bought along
with the field from Ephron the Hittite for
a burial site. There they buried Abraham
and his wife Sarah, there they buried
Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there
I buried Leah— the field and the cave
that is in it, purchased from the sons of
Heth.” When Jacob finished charging
his sons, he drew his feet into the bed
and breathed his last, and was gathered
to his people. (Genesis 49:1-33)
Right at the very end of his life is when he
puts it all together. Everything he experienced
clicks at the very end. So it will be with the
Jewish people. The Holocaust, the inquisitions,
the Old Testament, the New Testament,
the early Church; Genesis 49 will have its ultimate
fulfillment somehow in Revelation 7 and
14. At the very end it comes together, but not
until every prophecy is fulfilled in Genesis 49.
The Importance of Judah
The most important prophecy is Judah. Except
for that situation with Tamar (Gen. 38),
Judah was always unique and good. Judah led
the tribes through the wilderness in the configuration
around the Ark. It was Judah who
asked the brothers to have mercy on Joseph
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 13

Feature Article – Continued
the way Jesus asks for mercy on the Jews
(Gen. 37:26). They said, “Let His blood be on
us and our children” (Mt. 27:25), and Jesus
says, “Father, forgive them” (Lk. 23:34).
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes, (Genesis 49:10a)
Over and over the Talmudic literature tells
us that “Shiloh” is the Messiah; Judaism understands
it that way.
“Thus says the LORD, ‘Write this man
down childless, A man who will not
prosper in his days; For no man of his
descendants will prosper Sitting on the
throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.’”
(Jeremiah 22:30)
King David was from which tribe Judah.
In Samuel it is promised to David that he
shall never lack somebody to be on the throne
of David (2 Sam. 7:16). Judaism has a big
problem explaining how God is keeping this
promise today. (Anglo-Israelism actually tries
to say the throne of David is the royal throne
of Great Britain and the monarchy. This came
about when there was a Jewish prime minister;
that is when this whole thing got going in
the last century.) There was always some kind
of Davidic line, even when it got interrupted
during the Captivity. The Hasmoneans, who
were the descendants of the Maccabees tried
to make the High Priest John Hyricanus the
king. But the king needed to be a descendant
of David, priests the descendants of Aaron.
The last person who by any claim could be
a descendant of David had to end in the reign
of Herod the Great. Herod’s mother was a
Moabitess and he was some kind of convert
to Judaism, but culturally he was basically a
Roman rather than a Jew.
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah…until
Shiloh comes.” Well, the scepter
did depart from Judah—Shiloh had to come.
The Messiah had to come before the end of
the Davidic lineage.
God promised David he would always
have a descendant on the throne. Is there one
No, unless in the heavenlies Jesus is reigning
on the throne of David as the New Testament
says (Heb. 8:12; 12:2). Either Shiloh—the
Messiah—has come and is reigning on the
throne of David spiritually (and He will reign
again in the Millennium), or else the Bible
is wrong and God has broken His promise.
This is one of the passages where the Talmudic
literature and the rabbinic commentaries
go to great length to get around. They have a
big problem, but we know there is a Lion of
Judah, and He is on the throne of David right
now, and the house of David will be restored
to Jerusalem and Jesus will reign there.
The Tribes
Reuben, in Genesis 39:3-4 is the firstborn of
Leah, but he gets last preference; the favored
place goes to Joseph, the priestly privilege to
Levi, the kingly right to Judah. He is “uncontrollable
as water” which undoubtedly relates
to his sin with Bilhah (Gen. 35:22). This is
exactly what happened. The firstborn did not
get the kingship, the favor, or the priestly lineage.
“The first shall be last” (Mt. 19:30).
Simeon and Levi are the second and third
sons of Leah. They killed repentant men near
Shechem (Gen. 34), so they got no inheritance.
The Levites were given none and the Simeonites
were swallowed up by Judah: “I will disperse
them in Jacob” (Gen. 49:7). Historically,
that is what happened. It was literally and actually
fulfilled just as predicted. The problem
was that they killed men after the men repented.
(When we find Christians holding grudges
and not forgiving people who have genuinely
repented, that is going to hurt them more
than it is the people they are not forgiving.)
Judah is the fourth of Leah. Judah received
praise and “Yehuda” has to do with that. He
had birthrights and exceptional dignity, holding
the kingship and the line of David before
the scepter departed when Shiloh came. (This
is referenced in Ezekiel 21:27.)
Then there is Zebulon, the fifth by Leah,
who “will dwell as the seashore” (Gen. 49:13).
Jacob mentions the Sidonians, and in Judges
5 we see this later being fulfilled in the Song
of Deborah in the struggle against Sisera.
Issachar is the sixth son of Leah and he is
a “chamor”—a donkey: “a strong donkey”
(Gen. 49:14). He is strong and stubborn, but
submits to the yoke: “He bowed his shoulder
to bear burdens” (Gen. 49:15). He is too lazy
not to. He submitted to Canaanite invaders
rather than fight; that was Issachar.
Then there was Dan, the first son of Bilhah, a
snake of poison causing terror (Gen. 49:16-18).
Then there is Gad, the first son of Zilpah,
Leah’s maid. Jewish lineage was not just
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through their wives
Leah and Rachel. The idea was of one having
Levirate marriage or surrogate motherhood.
God was not simply interested in physical
lineage; He was interested in faith for all
descendants of Abraham. Gad is a troop or
military company meaning a mighty military
company that trusts in the Lord.
Asher is the second son of Zilpah relating
to wheat, wine and oil.
Naphtali was the second son of Bilhah and
“gives beautiful (or “godly”) words” (Gen.
49:21), as we see in Judges 5:18 in the character
of “those who love not their lives unto
death” (Rev. 12:11).
Then there is Joseph, the first son of Rachel,
who is “a fruitful bough” (Gen. 49:22)
and, like “Ephraim,” means “doubly fruitful.”
“Joseph” means “God shall add or be added.”
He has the characteristics of Jesus, a bubbling
fountain that is a fountain of life. In verse 22
He is the Living Water; in verse 23 His words
are like arrows; in verse 24 he is the Shepherd;
in verse 25 He is helped by the Father—“El
Shaddai.” And other things associated with
Jesus happen to him. The things that happen
to Joseph are played out in Jesus.
Again, the early church saw Benjamin as
being fulfilled in Paul (Gen. 49:27). Reuben,
Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, as it is
hinted at, did not cross the Jordan. They wanted
God’s blessing here. The tribes existed even
after the ten northern tribes went into captivity.
Application of the Tribes’ Characteristics
Believers come in the characteristics of
those tribes. There are believers who come in
the characteristics of Joseph. Some people are
so much like Jesus they are models for the
rest of us. When we see Christians like that,
their brothers do not like them. One reason
why godly people are not very popular in the
Church is because they are seen as wimps,
which they are not, but when I see someone
more like Jesus than I am, I get convicted.
There are believers like Benjamin: they do
not begin well, but they end well.
There are believers like the Reubenites, the
Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh: they
want a good, comfortable life here and now in
this world; they do not want to cross the Jordan
and go to war, not realizing they are going to
have to cross the Jordan and go to war anyway,
but losing the blessing that they could have
had if they did not want an easy ticket. There
are so many believers who want an easy ticket.
These sons of Jacob teach about us. Jacob
knew his sons. He was able to predict what
they would be like—not just the Jews, but the
other twelve elders, those descended from the
Apostles in Revelation 4.
It is interesting what happens when we put
together the names of these sons in Hebrew.
Dan was left out because Dan worshiped the
golden calf and acted in a judgment that was
not of God, which is made up for because of
Joseph having two sons to make the same
twelve.
“Judge not, lest you be judged” (Mt. 7:1).
“Judah”—“a confessor or praiser of God.”
“Reuben”—“looking at the son.”
“Gad”—“accompany.”
“Asher”—“blessed.”
“Naphtali”—“striving with or wrestling with.”
“Manasseh”—“forgetfulness.”
“Simeon”—“hearing or obeying.”
“Levi”—“clinging to or joining to.”
“Issachar”—“reward.”
“Zebulun”—“the home of the growing place.”
“Joseph”—“shall be added.”
“Benjamin”—“the son of the right hand.”
One of the differences between Hellenistic
hermeneutics and Jewish hermeneutics is
that Hellenistic hermeneutics has “a this or
a that”; in biblical Jewish hermeneutics (not
rabbinic), it can be both. Revelation 14 describes
the character of these people. No matter
what they are in terms of organization and
anthropology, it describes the character and
nature of these people: a company of praisers
of God who are looking at the Son who
are blessed by Him and striving with forgetfulness.
The Jewish people have forgotten
the covenant. They are “hearing and obeying”
in the character of Simeon, clinging to
14 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

the promised reward of an eternal home that
shall be added to them by the Son of God’s
own Right Hand. Somehow it describes the
character of this 144,000. The Hebrew names
describe their character as a corporate unit.
The End from the Beginning
All kinds of books will tell you “this,”
“that” and “the other thing”; I am not telling
anything beyond what I have told here: the
key is in Genesis 49. “Seal these things up
until the time of the end” (Dan. 12:4). At the
appropriate time, the Holy Spirit will show
exactly what these things mean, but so far I
know what the Holy Spirit is saying. Look at
Jacob, look at Genesis 49, forget about the
Christian commentaries, go back to Genesis.
What does it say in the Tanakh “God declares
the end from the beginning” (Is. 46:10).
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which
have not been done,
Notice it is “from ancient times” He declares
things which are not yet. He declares
the end from the beginning.
Think of the Bible as a loaf of bread that
has not been cut; it looks the same on both
ends, does it not Genesis and Revelation go
together. There are the twelve sons of Jacob,
the twelve signs in Genesis 49 and what do we
have in Revelation 6 The blood of Abel calls
out for justice. And the blood of the martyrs
calls out for justice in Revelation 6:9-11. There
is the woman in the sky in Joseph’s vision in
Genesis and what do we have in Revelation
12 He declares the end from the beginning.
The creation and the new creation mutually
illuminate each other between John and
Genesis; so does the creation and the re-creation
in Revelation. Genesis is “creation,”
John is “new creation,” but Revelation is “recreation.”
The key is in Genesis. The whole
Bible is in the Book of Genesis. The entire
history of the Jews and the history of the
Church is tied up in Genesis 49 in some way.
“He declares the end from the beginning.” It
all depends on this one guy, Jacob.
Why Choose Jacob
Of all the great people in the world, of all
the great men in the Bible, why does God
take a schemer, a con-artist, a manipulator, a
“shrewdy,” and hinge His entire plan of salvation
and history for the world on this one
guy Why, of all the fine people in this country,
who were born in this country, who could
be standing up here giving a much better performance
than I can, does God pick up a drug
addict from the streets of New York and bring
him to England Who can answer those questions
The only way I can even begin to understand
it is that losers have nothing to brag
about except God’s grace.
And the Jews as a nation and a people are
a nation of losers. They have lost everything
but one thing: the promise of God. That is the
one thing they have not lost. They lost their
children and they have lost their hope. Go to
Israel. Zionism was their dream. Today they
get a visa to leave Israel to go to the United
States or something. The Russians go there
because they cannot get a visa to go to the
United States or Canada. Everything the Jews
try turns to garbage.
The 19 th -century center of culture and science
was Germany, but who was at its center
German Jews. For better or worse, Karl
Marx was a German Jew, Sigmund Freud was
a German Jew, the scientist Steinmetz was a
German Jew. They thought they had it made,
that they were the intellectuals and molders
of modern science. Everybody was following
their ideas, but it turned against them. They
lost everything. Hitler came along and actually
said, “There are only two kinds of superior
races: Jews and Germans. We’re going to find
out who is going to come out on top.” The Jews
lost everything in the Holocaust, so they go to
Israel, and now they are going to lose that.
They are losing the land, they have lost
their hope, they have lost their idealism. The
Antichrist will enter that country and be proclaimed
the Messiah and they will be misled
and betrayed by their own rabbis. They lose
everything except the promise of God. God’s
redemptive plan for the salvation of the world
and the future of the Church is bound up with
this prophetic and redemptive plan for the salvation
of the nation of Israel.
Why would He choose a nation like that,
a little nation What do they have to brag
about Maybe that is why. There is so little.
Even in the days of David and Solomon they
were never a great power, they were only a regional
power. They were never a great world
power like Rome or Babylon or Persia. (They
will be in the Millennium.) Intellectuals It
was not the Jews but the Greeks who were
the intellectuals of the ancient world. They
were nothing compared to the great powers.
Yet God takes the insignificant things and that
is what He uses.
What happens to the Jews happens to us.
Heads and tails are the Church and Israel. We
can distinguish between heads and tails but
we cannot separate them.
For consider your calling, brethren, that
there were not many wise according to
the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble; (1 Corinthians 1:26)
God did not choose the Jews because they
were the greatest nation; He chose them because
they were the least. And He did not
choose us because we were the greatest of
people, He chose me because I was a drug
addict in New York. I did not have anything.
Most of my friends are dead from dope.
It Will Be Fulfilled
God’s whole working in Jacob’s life pointed
to this one chapter, Genesis 49, and then
He ends it. Genesis 49, Revelation 7—it is
going to happen. That prophecy will be fulfilled.
A time is going to come in some way
when His purpose for the Jews to be lights to
the nations is going to happen.
Ben-Gurion said the Jews must be lights to
the nations, that they must have a model of
socialism in their economy and government
that the Gentiles will want to imitate. But a
time will come when they are going to be
lights to the nations, when they have the light
of their Messiah. They lost it all except the
promise. If God can break His promise to Jacob,
give me one good reason He has to keep
His promise to the Church.
Before Jesus comes, the sons of Jacob are
going to proclaim Jesus to the nations. Before
Jesus comes, the Church is going to be in very
serious trouble. God is going to revive it, but
do we know who is going to revive it
For if their rejection is the reconciliation
of the world, what will their acceptance
be but life from the dead (Romans 11:15)
For who For the Church.
I do not know what to make out of it, but
I am telling you, Genesis 49 has always been
fulfilled, and Genesis 49 is going to be fulfilled.
The Jews have lost everything, but they
have not lost the promise of God.
God bless,
James Jacob Prasch †††
Feature Article – Continued
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March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 15

Guest Author
Danny Isom
One
insanity
is but a
of the Other
ut realize this, that in the
last days difficult times will
come. For men will be lovers
of self, lovers of money,
boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient
to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving,
irreconcilable, malicious gossips,
without self-control, brutal, haters of
good, treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers
of God, holding to a form of godliness,
although they have denied its power;
Avoid such men as these. For among
them are those who enter into households
and captivate weak women
weighed down with sins, led on by
various impulses, always learning and
never able to come to the knowledge of
the truth. (2 Timothy3:1-7)
This is one of the best biblical descriptions
of what is taking place spiritually with the
Occupy Wall Street and similar movements
of unrest in the Western world. I cannot begin
to number the editorials, news reports and articles
in every form of media, both secular and
Christian, that have crossed my path which
espouse disbelief and incredulity at what is
taking place. Repeatedly we receive reports
that even when the protestors finally articulate
some kind of demand, position or statement
that can be understood, it is in direct contradiction
to their actions and attitude. Their
hypocrisy puzzles just about everyone. They
claim to be holding to the finest traditions
of America and the Civil Rights Movement,
but their actions certainly do not prove it. By
most third-party accounts the participants are
insane, claiming things which directly conflict
with their subsequent words and actions.
This is supposed to be something new I’m
supposed to be surprised at this For years
prior to the Occupy movement anyone could
have reported the exact same things about the
Church and those calling themselves “Christian”:
it is hard to know what they stand for,
their actions almost always contradict their
words, and they do not seem to bear any resemblance
to the legacy and heritage they
claim to come from. The hypocrisy and insanity
in the world is merely a reflection of
the hypocrisy and insanity in Christendom.
The description of unbiblical behaviors in
the Last Days which Paul lists for Timothy
first materialized in and permeated the institutional
churches before joining together
with identical patterns in the world. One is
a reflection of the other. I am supposed to be
surprised by statements by both the saved
and unsaved alike that America is no longer a
Christian country following the biblical principles
on which it was founded Wake up and
smell the coffee in any one of the imitation
Starbucks that have sprung up at churches
across your city and state. If churches are
no longer following the Bible, why should
anyone else If people calling themselves
“Christian” do not practice what they preach,
why should the demonstrators be held to a
higher standard America and Western countries
once considered Christian are merely a
reflection of the state of the church within
them. Why should Occupy Wall Street protestors
be held to a different standard than the
hypocrites who claim a form of Christianity
that has no resemblance to that practiced as
recently as by their parents and grandparents
It they have abandoned the Word, why
should a political movement try to return to
its influence
“Do not think that I will accuse you before
the Father; the one who accuses
you is Moses, in whom you have set
your hope. For if you believed Moses,
you would believe Me, for he wrote
about Me. But if you do not believe
his writings, how will you believe My
words” (John 5:45-47)
Just as Jesus set the record straight for the
so-called believers of His day, so I have come
to believe it will be precisely the same thing
for the believers of these Last Days. Can you
imagine what our grandparents’ and their
grandparents’ generations would say if they
returned and visited their old churches today
In this present generation, every denomination
is going to be convicted by its founders because
this last generation has vacated practically
every written standard originally established,
much less abandoned Scripture
along the way toward the present decline. Do
today’s Baptists practice and live up to the
standards established by its founders Or the
Methodists Or the Assemblies of God Can
16 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

you name a denomination which is fully following
the standards originally established
by their founders, much less the Bible they
each allege to be foundational to their beliefs
and ways
As one example I am personally familiar
with, I think it will be Phineas Bresee, the
primary founder of the Church of the Nazarene
who will be that denomination’s chief
accuser. To the current generation I would
paraphrase Jesus as saying, “Do not think
that I will accuse you before the Father; the
one who accuses you is Phineas Bresee, in
whom you have set your hope. For if you believed
Bresee, you would believe Me, for he
wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his
writings, how will you believe My words”
How can I be upset with protestors who
do not understand the true beliefs and attitudes
of historical American figures and
movements when so many claiming the label
Christian do not know or believe the same
as their own members of just one generation
ago, much less the true counsel of God’s
Word Both parties are openly redefining
every term and every historical reference to
conform to their own wishes and desires; one
insanity is merely a reflection of the other.
Like “the sons of Issachar, men who understood
the times, with knowledge of what
Israel should do” (1 Chr. 12:32), so should we
likewise be. If we truly understood the bigger
picture, we would not be operating “business
as usual,” and neither would we be trying to
rescue institutions to the neglect of souls.
As Jacob details to a far greater degree in
his book, Shadows of the Beast, Revelation
13 speaks of two beasts, one “coming up out
of the sea” (Rev. 13:1) and the other “coming
up out of the earth” (Rev. 13:11). The world
stage is being set for the arrival not just of the
final person of the Antichrist, but the False
Prophet as well. They embody not just an attempt
to consolidate the world politically, but
to unify it religiously. They are therefore not
simply working to deceive the world, but to
deceive the church or anyone with a religious
predilection. The insanity in the institutional
church which is finally being reflected in the
insanity of the outbreaks of political unrest is
the rise of the Antichrist, bubbling ever closer
to the surface, soon to be in plain, open view
of all. Both groups are ripe for the picking.
It is easy to see how both the political and
religious arenas are being prepared to accept
a single, unifying leader. The rank and file
members of the institutional churches have
established the same agenda as their counterparts
in these political movements, making
it all about “me.” Both groups are seeking
someone else to take care of them, someone
else to provide the answers, someone else to
make life easier. When that “someone” comes
along with the ability to provide (at least
temporarily) those solutions, they will follow
him, quite literally, all the way to hell. It will
not matter whether they started their journey
in an absurd political movement or a church
Danny Isom
originally not compromised by the world.
There are Christians who are putting all
their efforts into saving America, toward
reestablishing the Judeo-Christian ethic on
which it was built. And there are Christians
who are putting all their efforts into saving
the denomination they grew up in, toward reestablishing
the principles for which it once
stood and upon which it was originally established.
(In my previous example, just take a
look at the website, http://www.concernednazarenes.org.
Do you think there is really
hope for a return)
Unfortunately, the truth is that those institutions
are gone forever and they are never
coming back because they are being absorbed
into the final Babylon to come described in
Revelation. They are not salvageable because,
as the Lord said through Jeremiah:
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been
broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for
her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.
We applied healing to Babylon, but she
was not healed; Forsake her and let us
each go to his own country, For her
judgment has reached to heaven And
towers up to the very skies. (Jeremiah
51:8-9)
It is a recurring theme in Scripture that
Babylon is fallen and cannot be healed, (Is.
21:9; Jer. 50:2; Rev. 14:8, 18:3) along with
the repeated admonition by the Lord to come
out of her (Is. 52:11; Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 9, 45;
Rev. 18:4). We are not witnessing the fall
of something so it can be rebuilt properly
as much as we are being presented with the
rise of something else in its place, something
which seeks to replace not just the position of
religion in our life, but everything else to boot.
Unfortunately, there is another great deception
that is working in tandem with what
we are seeing both in the secular and religious
realms which is specifically targeting
the faithful remnant. There are a great many
authentic Christians, even perhaps the majority
at this very hour, who do not believe in the
need to prepare for the rise of Babylon and its
leaders the Antichrist and False Prophet because
of their belief that the faithful Church
will be raptured away before they make their
appearance and rise to power. What is going
to happen to the remnant when so many in it
are unprepared to enter the Tribulation and
endure the persecution to come before the
Rapture does come Pre-Tribulationism can
no longer be viewed as a “difference of opinion”
among scholars and authors as to the
timing of the Rapture and the mechanics of
the End Times—there are going to be severe
consequences for ignoring the plain teaching
of Scripture not only about what is to come,
but what is currently taking place. I am not
railing about the timing of the Rapture, but the
false notion that it will exempt us from all the
persecution and events heralding its arrival.
Let no one in any way deceive you,
for it [the Parousia, or coming of the
Lord] will not come unless the apostasy
comes first, and the man of lawlessness
is revealed, the son of destruction.
(2 Thessalonians 2:3)
The Holy Spirit through Paul warns us not
to allow anyone to deceive us that we will not
first see the apostasy—the great falling away
from the faith by many, and then witness the
arrival of the Antichrist. Those espousing a
position that the Rapture will come before
we witness the arrival of the Antichrist play
all sorts of monkey tricks with this verse, deceiving
themselves and others into believing
Paul is not plainly saying what he is saying.
“Let no one in any way deceive you.” NO
ONE. There is no place for “friendly, scholarly
debate” where the plain truth of God’s
Word is so unambiguous. These words are
just as clear and plain as those of John 3:16.
Do not allow anyone, regardless of how noble
their intentions, sway you otherwise.
If we truly understood the times in which
we live and therefore fully appreciated how
what is happening in the streets is but a reflection
of what has been going on for a long
while within the churches, we would not be
directing our efforts to save a nation, a denomination,
or way of life. We would take
Jesus at His Word when He stated, “But the
one who endures to the end, he will be saved”
(Mt. 24:13); we would know that it will be
exactly as Paul also described this time in
history, “But realize this, that in the last days
difficult times will come” (2 Ti. 3:1).
Indeed, all who desire to live godly in
Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But
evil men and impostors will proceed
from bad to worse, deceiving and being
deceived. You, however, continue
in the things you have learned and
become convinced of, knowing from
whom you have learned them, (2 Timothy
3:12-14)
The call for faithfulness during this time
is not a call to go back and rescue an institution,
but to continue the daily pursuit of
faithfulness in what we already know and believe
from God’s Word. Neither do we need
anything new, but to put into practice what
we have already been given. These are but
the birth pangs, each one more violent and
closer together than the last. What is about
to give birth has severely opposite effects on
those who are going the world’s way, be they
churched or otherwise, versus those who will
“continue in the things you have learned and
become convinced of.”
In Him,
Danny Isom
Guest Author
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 17

Moriel South Africa
David Royle
MORIEL MISSIONS
SOUTH AFRICA
Dear friends and family
Greetings in Jesus.
First of all a happy New year to everyone.
May the Lord give you His peace and supply
for the coming year.
We opened the office on the 9 th of January
and Chris began the work of filling in back
orders of books and DVDs, etc. We had a really
nice peaceful time over the Christmas
holidays. However the children got a little
bored so we filled in the time with project
work. It’s hard to believe but we have been
in the Western Cape for one year already. The
time has gone very quickly and the kids have
adapted well to their new environment, PTL.
The health of the children has been fairly
steady. S’phiwe though has had an ongoing
low white blood cell count. On Friday the 20th
we make a trip to Hermanus for another set
of blood tests. Please pray that they turn out
Okay as he has not put on any weight recently
and has had opportune fungal infections.
A new exercise regime started in the New
Year. You will see the boys tramping around
the hills at 5:45 every morning apart from
weekends. It seems to be doing Carlos and
Chris good as they have both lost weight.
The rest of the children are in good health,
thank the Lord. Although Lyn and I have a
few issues we are still praising God.
MORIEL MISSIONS SCHOOL
Thanks to David Lister in the USA we have
received some more Laodicea and Shadows
of the Beast books. Give us a call or email if
you want them. They are R140 each plus P&P.
Our New website for South Africa students
is almost complete. For those studying
there will be an e-campus and lots of downloads.
It will be found at: www.morielmissionsschool.co.za/
Meanwhile, for a teaching catalogue
please contact us at the email above and we
will send you one.
The Persecuted Church
Our intrepid leader has recently come
back from the far east. Please read this carefully
and commit it to prayer:
Blessings from Jacob Prasch Thailand
and Prayer Request for Persecuted Church
in Vietnam
After speaking at Mennonite, student,
and Hmong churches we did an evangelism
trip into Burma with our Moriel team
from Northern Thailand. The government of
Myanmar (Burma) is just liberalizing very
slightly. We were also able to distribute food
parcels to the poor and homeless in that very
desperate country, in addition to gospel tracts
in Burmese and preaching the good news of
Jesus openly in the marketplace. We have
an ex-Buddhist monk from Myanmar from
a family of opium growers now following
Jesus and helping us. We also visited Laos
where two pastors were just released from
communist prison. Thanks to the goodness
of God working through the prayers and
generosity of our readers and friends, we
were able to set up a secret printing press in
Vietnam and print thousands of illegal Bibles
in the Hmong language last week. We met
secretly with one of the Hmong leaders in
Thailand outside of communist jurisdiction.
Unfortunately today we received an “SOS”
from the underground church we support
and assist and whose pastor is an evangelist.
We do training seminars among the Hmong
mountain tribal people. The English in this
transmission is very poor but you can understand
the appeal for prayer. One evangelist
we trained has been arrested and tortured
by the communist authorities for preaching
Jesus, and the situation appears desperate.
They released him temporarily after 18 days
so others can see what they did to him as
an apparent deterrent to preaching Christ,
but he has apparently been rearrested. We
cannot include certain details for security
reasons. Please pray for his release from
prison and for his protection. The believers
in the Hagiang region are also experiencing
extreme difficulty and poverty. Please
stand with us in prayer for them.
Jacob Prasch
Prayer Matters
• Give us today our daily bread
• For the continued health of the children,
especially S’phiwe
• Our ongoing Guidance from the Lord
• Aprils visit from DR Calvin Smith
• For the fellowship prayer breakfast
• Lyn and Dave’s trip to the UK and for the
safe delivery of babies
• The sale of our properties in Gauteng
• The persecuted church in the Far East
• The children in the Philippines to whom we
minister
• Our planned trip to Uganda in July
• Dave’s Trip to the Philippines in April
• Dave’s Trip to Australia in May
18 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

• All our administrators across the world
TRUE FELLOWSHIP
“And they continued steadfastly in the
apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the
breaking of bread and the prayers. And
fear came upon every soul: and many
wonders and signs were done through
the apostles. And all that believed were
together, and had all things common;
and they sold their possessions and
goods, and parted them to all, according
as any man had need. And day by day,
continuing steadfastly with one accord
in the temple, and breaking bread at
home, they took their food with gladness
and singleness of heart, praising God,
and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to them day by day
those that were saved.” Acts 2: 42 – 47
I was speaking to someone a while ago,
and they were reminiscing about a church
many years back. They said that at this particular
church the fellowship was sweet like
nothing they have experienced before or
since. Over the last few years, I’ve spoken
to quite a few people who have told me the
same thing. In fact I, myself, as a youth leader
in the late 70s, early 80s, have memories
which are so sweet of fellowship with the
crowd I was involved with then.
So is fellowship consigned to the past
Does it exist only in the nostalgic memories
of a few Or is there a possibility that fellowship
can be lived and experienced among
believers today Despite what we see so
often in our churches, despite the apparent
shallowness of some of our relationships, I
believe fellowship is a distinct possibility for
you and me if we endeavor to do two things:
Firstly – We fellowship to the depth and
breadth which the New and Old Testaments
indicate;
Secondly – We see fellowship as what it
really is: something which needs to be constantly
worked at. I don’t know about you,
but I carry baggage that hinders my fellowship—stuff
that I need to let go of if I desire
to grow in this area.
The text for today is probably the text
that most people would come up with when
thinking about New Testament fellowship,
and that’s why I chose it. For here we see a
group of believers who shared everything together
in those early days straight after Pentecost.
But today I am not going to exegete
that text fully because when one looks at the
original Greek and Hebrew texts concerning
the whole area of fellowship, we begin
to see a lot deeper into what God desires for
us. For example, the word ‘fellow’ in the Hebrew
has four uses: It can just mean man or
‘ish.’ ‘Isha’ is the feminine for woman. It’s
a generic term. Another is ‘Reya,’ an associate,
an acquaintance. Another is ‘Amiyth,’
which means a comrade, a closer association
David Royle
than ‘Reya.’ And finally there is ‘Kawbare,’
which literally means ‘to be knitted together’
or intermeshed.
When we look at the Greek we get an even
more in-depth look, because it suggests what
we must do or be with our fellows.
In Ephesians 2: 19 it says we must be
‘fellow citizens’ or ‘soompolytare.’ In other
words, a native of the same town or faith.
In John 11: 16 we are called ‘fellow disciples’
or ‘soomathetes.’ A co-learner under
the same master.
In Ephesians 3: 6 Paul says we are ‘soongklayronomos’—‘fellow
heirs’ in Christ; we
participate in a common inheritance. We are
also fellow members of the body, fellow partakers
of the promise.
In 1 Thessalonians 3: 2 we are called ‘fellow
laborers,’ or ‘helpers.’ It’s the same Greek
word ‘soonergos’, a companion in labor.
In Romans 16: 7 we are called
‘fellow prisoners’—‘soonaheekmalotos,’—
a co-capture in Christ or for Christ.
In Colossians 1: 7 we are to be found as
fellow servants, ‘soondoulos,’—co ministers
with the same master.
Then in Philemon verse 2 the word suggests
‘fellow soldier’—‘Soostiateotare’—a
companion in battle.
So when we look just at the depth in the
way Scripture suggests how you and I are to
interrelate in Christ, we see that even here,
sometimes what we know as ‘church’ pales
into insignificance. But there is one more
‘fellow’ which even makes these fall short
of what I believe God really desires, and that
‘fellow’ is ‘fellow-ship.’ In the Hebrew we
have several words;
The first is, ‘tesoometh’ or to be pledged
together.
Secondly we have ‘yad’ which means an
‘open hand’ quite literally, and can be used to
both grasp and also smack if necessary.
Thirdly is ‘kawbar,’ similar to ‘kawbare,’
and it literally means to ‘be fascinated’ by
one another.
In the Greek it is just as fascinating.
Firstly, ‘soongkoynoneho’—to share
company with someone.
Secondly, ‘Metoche’ which means ‘fellowship,’
but not at a particularly deep level.
But thirdly we have that word for fellowship,
mentioned not just in Acts 2, but in
many places. It is a word that lies at the heart
of all relationships—‘Koinonia.’ Literally to
have everything in common.
So let’s look at three points in this word
study, which we will cover over three sermons.
Firstly What is koinonia How could it
affect us That is this session.
Secondly Who and what we have koinonia
with and who we don’t. We will look at
this in the next session.
Thirdly Obstacles to koinonia, which will
be our final session.
Koinonia, according to Vine’s is “Communion,
fellowship, sharing in common, that
Moriel South Africa
which is the outcome of fellowship, a contribution.”
When we look at our picture of
the early Church in the book of Acts we do
indeed see all these things occurring. Five
in particular which to me stand out significantly
in our text are: In verse 44 they were
together! It is impossible to have fellowship
unless we meet as an extended family and as
Hebrews 10: 25 says, “all the more as you
see the day approaching.” It upsets me terribly
when I see the amount of Christians out
there, keeping away from a local church because
of heavy shepherding churches and the
abuses of the word of faith movement and
other heresies. I understand, I sympathize,
even empathize. BUT someone once said,
and I agree, ‘The answer to bad church is not
no church, but good church.’ But these believers
were together.
Again in verse 44, they had all things in
common. Now let me make a point here
because this is where quite a few churches
go wrong. When we look at other contemporary
groups of the time, we see some living
lifestyles in a similar way to communes.
The Qumran documents show clearly that
the Essenes and the Qumran sects lived in
a similar fashion; being together and having
all things in common. In Acts 4:32 – 5:11
though, it clearly shows that the selling of
possessions was voluntary, and the fact that
the Christians moved from house-to-house
in verse 46 shows that the Christians were
distinct from the communes from the time.
In fact what it does mean is that to hold together
and have things together does not
mean you join a kibbutz or a commune;
what it does mean is that even though we
may own land, things, finances, a cricket bat,
lawnmower—whatever—we can make them
available to the community of believers if
there is a need. In other words, if you have
two coats, food, whatever, you should share
with whoever has none. 600 years ago the
welfare system of society was ‘the Church.’
Justine the Apostate, enemy of the Church,
said “These followers of Christ, they not
only look after their own poor, they look after
ours as well.” When we look at some of
the great welfare movements of all time with
people such as Shaftsbury, Muller, Barnado,
etc., we see that it was always the Christian
at the forefront. We see that the Church
played a prominent role. In the UK after the
1 st and 2 nd world wars, we see a paternal state
taking the place of the Church. And now as
these systems become so expensive to maintain
and institutionalize, we see the failure of
the state, and people untouched and adrift in
poverty. In our society, times are economically
difficult, and I believe once again the
fellowship of believers must fill the gap as
we see brothers and sisters in terrible need,
children orphaned, as we see an HIV pandemic
shattering lives and families. We must
respond in Christ’s love.
Verse 46 says they had one mind, one ac-
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 19

Moriel South Africa – Continued
cord, in the temple. Their act of worship was
an act of unity, and this overflowed into their
very houses because…
It goes on to say they broke bread from
house to house, even taking their meals together
with gladness and sincerity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the
people. So their ‘koinonia’ involved communion,
fellowship, a sharing in common and,
what an outcome their fellowship had with
gladness, praise, joy and sincerity of heart!
Let me ask, when was the last time you had
fellowship of this quality Let me ask again,
is our fellowship a present day reality Or
is it confined to the limitations of nostalgia
But like I said earlier, there are two things
which we need to understand. A) That we
must fellowship to the breadth and depth of
the biblical term. B) And also we must understand
then, that if we claim to be in Christ
Jesus then we are fellows together.
We are fellow citizens in Christ, fellow
disciples in Christ, fellow heirs in Christ,
fellow laborers in Christ, fellow prisoners in
Christ, fellow servants in Christ, fellow soldiers
in Christ. And in Christ as we come to
understand these terms, we must work at it.
Koinonia does not happen overnight, but
it begins to happen when we worship together,
when we work together, when we eat together,
when we have fun together, when we
show hospitality to one another. Then, when
we begin to trust, we begin to heal from our
past mistrusts; we stop judging according to
our misconceptions. Then we begin to have
Koinonia.
Let me ask,
In Christ do you desire to work at koinonia
Are you fed up of a pale imitation
Do you long for the real thing
Next time we will look at “Koinonia with
Whom”
David Royle
Jacob’s Far East Tour
• Singapore - June 18 through June 24
• Australia - June 25 through July 15
• New Zealand - July 17 through July 29
• Contact your local Moriel office (Or
Jeffrey or Esther in Singapore) for
where Jacob will be speaking.
Moriel Be Alert
Follow Moriel Be Alert on Facebook
Special Report - The Great Mormon Bailout
Mormons Leaving the Mormon Church in large numbers
Several articles and TV reports in Utah are confirming that Mormons are leaving the LDS
religion in large numbers. Below are some of the links to these stories.
This is very good news and according to full time Mormon missionary Rob Sivulka he has
personally received a confirmation from LDS General Authority Marlin Jensen, who is also
the Church Historian and Recorder, confirming that Mormons are “leaving in droves.”
Rob writes “There are several things to take away from this story: first, this should once
and for all put to rest this silly faith-promoting mantra LDS give that their church is the fastest
growing church.
Second, this significant news also ought to mobilize the Christian Church to reap the harvest
of these disaffected Mormons! Unfortunately, most of the people who leave Mormonism
go into agnosticism or atheism. The tendency with these people is to throw the baby out with
the bathwater.
So, Christians…are you ready to give a positive case for your faith as 1 Peter 3:15 commands
you to do We really have a great opportunity here!” Also, Rob further states “whether you are
for or against Romney for president, his run continues to put his faith under the microscope.”
Many of us in full time Mormon evangelism have known this for years. The Internet is
a big problem for them. The hundreds of websites that factually show the many problems
with Mormonism, with their history and even with the character of their founders being false
teachers and false prophets are and have been making a negative impact on the Mormon
religion and causing many to come out of this false religion.
Here at Moriel we support some full time missionaries in Utah and they report their
churches are growing with ex-Mormons. In addition, while this is good news the bad news is
that Mormonism is growing in places like Malaysia and Africa. Moriel is supporting a missionary
that is moving to Malaysia soon and was very influential in teaching me how to reach
Mormons. May the Lord help Tim Oliver and his wife as they transition to Malaysia. Also,
let us continue our support for the full time missionaries in Utah, as they will now be dealing
with more and more people turning to the Truth.
Mormons have always had ‘a zeal’ for God, but not according to The Truth. Let us keep
pushing forward, and be ready for an answer for the Mormons who are searching.
For those who are on the web, you can see this on the Moriel Be Alert Facebook page
(write Scott Brisk at Be Alert to join) or here are some article titles you can google or follow
the links to read further on this great news:
• Mormons tackling tough questions in their history – Salt Lake Tribune
http://m.sltrib.com/sltrib/mobile/53408134-78/church-lds-mormon-faith.html.csp
• Number of faithful Mormons rapidly declining – KTVX-TV ABC Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspxvideoid=3234120
• Special report -Mormonism besieged by the modern age – REUTERS [Thomson-Reuters]
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/uk-mormonchurch-idUKTRE80T1CP20120130
In Peace,
David
20 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

moriel japan
News from the
Far East
September Report
2011
K
Konnichiwa,
2012 is the year of the dragon here in Asia.
2013 will be the year of the serpent. A sign
of things to come But to us who believe, it
is the year of our LORD. God is in control.
We watched in the last few weeks the death
of Kim Jong Il and the stage show of his
“mourning.” They celebrated the New Year
with another missile over the Sea of Japan.
For Christians just a few hours away from
here by boat, death is the only way to practice
and share their faith. Yet even there, God is
in control. They are going through their “10
days” of persecution, and one day we will
face ours. In the meantime let’s all be faithful
in the situation in which God has placed us.
The Ohm (Buddhist) cult who poisoned the
people on the subways in Tokyo have most
people in the country terrified of thinking
about religion. Amazingly, one of them turned
himself in to the police the other day, so it is all
over the news again. I now understand why so
many young people on the streets say, “That’s
is scary!” when we offer them a gospel tract
or ask them a question related to the bible.
The Japanese send each other New Year
cards, usually with a picture of the zodiac
animal of the year. Most had oriental looking
dragons this year. We tried putting a very
stegosaurus looking dragon from Angkor Wat
on our New Year card. I often ask them why
Geoff Toole
there should be 11 real animals in their zodiac
and only one mythical one. I show them other
evidences of dinosaurs in recorded history.
Amazingly, more and more people try to say
the dragon is just a sea horse. It opens up room
for discussion though, and that is the point.
We were happy to see a few more faces at
our teaching sessions here and there last year.
People are noticing the website and we are
receiving encouraging reports. Last month in
Kobe and Tokyo, Peter and Jeanette Danzey
visited us. Peter preached on creation and
prophecy. Japanese people tend not to clearly
define what they believe, yet Peter’s message
pulled the rug from under the atheists and the
agnostics feet. It is not an easy job to reason
with people who are not used to thinking
deeply about their faith (or belief). Peter explained
the various positions of the atheist, the
materialist, the agnostic. Then using prophecy
and creation he demonstrated the reasonableness
of the Gospel message. It was a powerful
message and one which we hope to expound
on more, giving Christians more witnessing
tools as they reason with their non-Christian
friends. One Chinese scientist listened intently.
Jenny, her Christian friend, bought her
a Chinese bible after that. We pray that God
would speak to her while her heart is open.
Last week we had a great time of fellowship
and teaching in Tokyo as we studied the
midrash of Genesis Ch 1, the 70 weeks prophecy
of Daniel and the two witnesses of Revelation.
We have now completed our Basics
of Prophecy series on Daniel, which is available
on the internet for anyone to get a grip
on Daniel’s visions which are so foundational
to other prophecy. I was very encouraged by
the active participation of the listeners (miraculous
in Japan) and their eagerness to learn
more. I was also encouraged to find a 24-hour
Denny’s restaurant right near the hall we use.
Tokyo may never sleep, but it doesn’t wake
up early either. My bus always arrives at 6 in
the morning and it is usually hard to find a
place to kill 6 hours before the meetings begin.
Praise the Lord for every blessing. A new
baby was born on Dec 25th to Yuto and Akiko
in our own fellowship, and Daisuke and Jean
are expecting their first baby this year, too.
Daisuke’s job contract is up now. Please pray
with us that the Lord will provide a suitable
job to support his growing family and ministry.
A growing work in the Philippines
In this Quarterly, I would
like to introduce our friend
from the Philippines, Hope
Falculan.
For the last two years, as
well as pastoring his local
church, Hope has worked hard
to promote Moriel’s message
in his part of the Philippines
(Romblon, Mindoro and Palawan). Hope and
his family live in a rural part of a small but
beautiful island in the geographical center of
the Philippines. In the last two years he has
made numerous tiring trips to many places,
Moriel Japan
looking for anyone who might be interested in
learning more about midrash and biblical discernment.
Hope introduces groups of pastors,
churches or other Christians to the Hebrew
way of reading the Bible. Moriel wishes to
assist Hope more and more as he travels from
place to place, arranging Bible studies, distributing
books and newsletters and spreading
the word. We need God’s wisdom as we
consider how to expand the work and support
there. Please pray for Hope, and the wellbeing
of his wife Gina and their four children
Nadine, Miqvey, Elpis and Espoire.
Thanks to the grace of God and the tireless
efforts of Hope and other other faithful
ministers, the number of churches interested
in Moriel teachings is growing and growing.
Pastor Hope and his other companions
are effectively introducing the ideas of the
Hebraic background to the Bible, beginning
with an introduction to midrash, and of
course, lots of biblical discernment. Wherever
they go, believers are eager to read books and
messages on these topics. Grain for the Famine
and Jacob’s other early books have been
greatly appreciated.
Philippino people have an open heart to the
message of the Word, but the conditions are
hard for an itinerant ministry. Typhoons often
see ferries canceled and you could easily be
stranded on some island for days. Travel is
hard on the windy mountain roads and transport
is expensive on a local budget. Delivering
the newsletters there is much more than a
trip to the post office!
We appreciate David Lister and Margret
Godwin, and Moriel in Australia, who have
actively helped to fund and support a “Filipino
style” Moriel outreach. We are still praying
about and considering how best to work
there. Your prayers for wisdom, open doors
and adequate distribution of newsletters and
Jacob’s books are greatly appreciated.
Lord willing, this coming April my family
and I will visit the Philippines again. It
will take about one month to make a round
of the different churches. We hope to visit the
Islands of Mindoro, Tablas, Sibuyan, Bohol
and of course the main island of Luzon. For
many people it will be the first time to have
a Moriel teaching day. May the Lord keep us
from every hindrance, sickness and trouble.
Just one meeting has been canceled so far.
(They thought it was a “prosperity gospel”
meeting!) Well, may the Lord prosper His
work and His people! Amen. I am particularly
excited to meet David Royale for the first time
in Manila. We plan to visit Pastor Paul and the
Olongapo family together.
Moriel Japan runs a continual appeal to provide
concordances for Filipino pastors. A concordance
in Manila costs about 30 US dollars.
God bless,
Geoff Toole
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 21

Letters & Comments
Your Letters and
Comments
AMERICAN LETTERS
QUESTION:
Dear Jacob
A question if you have time to consider it. I
am faced with the question of translating Hosea
13.14 into a certain foreign language. I have read
a number of commentaries now and translations
of this verse. I am fully persuaded of the “positive
interpretation” of this verse. Kidner’s simple
IVP commentary is not answered on this point
by any of those who maintain here for this verse
a tone of condemnation rather than (following
the apostle Paul’s interpretation in 1 Cor.15.54-
55) a note of total encouragement and victory.
It isn’t about that I ask, rather the strange
expression “compassion/comfort (nacham) will
be hid from my eyes”, which has intrigued me
for a long time. It is of course translated by the
“negative” school as “My eyes will not show
any compassion!” (NETB for example). Is it at
all possible that this expression might mean ““in
this I look not even at my own comfort” - see
Hosea’s use of nachumim in 11:8 - and thus be a
direct prophetic view of Calvary I did put this
question in a letter some years back to Derek
Kidner who was gracious enough to reply and
say he thought the range of meanings in the
words could not be taken that far. But still the
question lingers in my mind.
I append some of Kidner’s perspicacious remarks
on this verse: - Kidner: “the Heb. of 14a
does NOT use the interrogative prefix, but has
the form of a plain statement”. (Hence the interpretation
above “I longed to.. I would..”) He
points out one of the strong features of Hosea
is the sudden change of tone from the sternest
of threats to the warmest of resolves “How can
I give you up, o Ephraim....!” or in 1.9-10 “call
his name “not-my-people”... Yet ... it shall be
said to them, “Sons of the living God!” We are
moving on “to the broad, sunlit uplands” of the
final chapter. The “compassions” God withholds
are not from the victims of death and Sheol, but
from “death and sheol” themselves who will be
thrown into the lake of fire”... Thus the NT completes
the thought Hosea began”.
Best wishes in Him
Phil S
REPLY:
Only in the broad sense that the cross encompasses
God’s redeeming compassion in its totality
can ‘nachumim’ in Hosea 11:8 be seen as related
to the cross of Calvary. In its context the passage
obviously has salvific implication for Israel.
Derek Kidner (with whose work I became familiar
with in bible college) is correct in citing
the absence of the interrogative prefix and he is
additionally correct in highlighting the abrupt
transitions in Hosea of God going from wrath
to compassion.
Paul’s treatment of ‘the sting of death’ in 1
Cor. 15 would be consistent with this motif in
Hosea. The absence of divine compassion expressed
in death as the judgment for sin is turned
against death itself as the final enemy that is to
be mercilessly destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26, 54-56).
In Christ,
Jacob Prasch
(Moriel)
QUESTION:
Jacob and David, glad you will be able to
join us on Stand Up For the Truth in the coming
months. May I please impose upon you to help
me with a biblical translation
We are preparing to do a show on the “Word
faith” movement. I met with a Pastor who is a
big proponent of this movement. He claims that
in Isaiah 53:5, the word “healed” means physical
healing as well as spiritual healing. Thus
he claims if we have enough faith we should be
healed of any physical problems we face.
If you would be so kind as to help me with
the correct Hebrew translation of that word I
would be deeply appreciative.
Thank you very much. Looking forward to
having you on air again when you are in the U.S.
Jacob.
ML
REPLY:
NERPA LANU - ISAIAH 53: 4-5
HEALING and THE ATONEMENT
Your question is practical but not the kind I like
to reply to from a linguistic perspective unless I
am in dialogue with someone who knows Hebrew.
I will touch on the linguistics because you
asked me to but then I will endeavor to explain
an easier way to refute that word-faith nonsense.
A linguistic argument is in this case only part
of the counter argument to word-faith preachers.
If you do not know Hebrew grammar the
elements of a “nifal” and “vav ha hepuk” would
have no meaning to you let alone to the person
you are debating so I won’t try to explain it in
any depth. In Hebrew, future tense can refer to
the past and past tense to the future where there
is “vav ha hipuk”, and present and past tenses
in the binyan “nifal” verb structure can be the
same. But lets not go there. I only mention it
in brief in specific reference to the way you
phrased your question.
The term can have both meanings in the context.
In essence verse 4 of Isaiah 53 applies to
physical illness and is past tense, while verse 5
of Isaiah 53 is about spiritual and psychological
healing and is present tense (it is again more
complex than this but I can’t effectively explain
nuances of ancient Hebrew grammar by email).
The simpler way to address this garbage (which
is doctrinally and theologically to something
called “over realized eschatology”) is as follows.
First - We interpret the Old Testament in light
of the New Testament revelation of Jesus.
Second - We interpret the Gospels in light
of Apostolic commentary - that is the epistles.
If we want to know what the Old Testament
means, we interpret it in light of the New Testament.
And if we want to know what the gospels
and direct teachings of Jesus mean, we interpret
the gospels in light of the writing of the apostles
which explain it.
Third - We always look at:
* TEXT (the original meaning in the original
languages)
* CONTEXT ( what the passage is speaking
about; not a verse in isolation; while ‘atomization’
is sometimes used in scripture it is never
used as the primary basis to establish doctrine)
*CO-TEXT (what other passages speak of and
explain the same subject being addressed; these
co-textual passages mutually illuminate each
other and are designed to be read in parallel).
Full and present “Healing in the Atonement”
advocates only look at text or at most text and
context. They cannot look at co-text or their
foolish argument collapses.
Let us consider the New Testament references
to Isaiah 53: 4-5 in light of text, context,
and co text;
1) 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24 cites Isaiah 53
and refers to spiritual healing; this is clear. This
corresponds to verse 5 of Isaiah 53.
2) Matthew 8: 16-17 cites Isaiah 53 and
refers to physical healing. This corresponds to
verse 4 of Isaiah 53.
Both meanings of physical and spiritual healing
are in Isaiah 53 and both meanings are cited
in the New Testament.
3) Romans 4 25 cites Isaiah 53 and gives a comprehensive
meaning uniting both the physical and
spiritual aspects of the Old Testament passage
referred to separately in Matthew 8 and 1 Peter 2.
If we read Romans 4:25 in context starting in
verse 19, we see it opens with physical degeneration
(the illness that comes in this particular
case with old age when Abraham had a geriatric
testosterone deficiency before Viagra and Sarah
was post-menopausal). As “father of all who
believe” Abraham the patriarch and Sarah the
matriarch are corporate solidarity figures; that is
they are actual historical figures who are representations
of us. Yet despite the maladies of old
age and hormonal dysfunction, a Divine intervention
related to faith in God and His promise
supernaturally facilitated impregnation. Read in
context this is the literary prelude to verse 25
which relates infirmity to sin and culminates
with the resurrection.
In other words, Romans 4:19-25 teaches that
fallen man exists in what theologians term a
“hamaertosphere”; that is a sin infected environment
that includes us as infected by sin and
requiring both justification to redress the sin and
resurrection to redress the consequences of sin
which is death. The sin causes human infirmity
to begin with and both the cross of Jesus followed
by the resurrection are the cure. Thus ultimate
healing both physical and spiritual begin
with Christ’s justification of us on the cross and
complete in the resurrection. Yes - healing is in
the atonement, but it only becomes a total and
full reality with the resurrection.
Because the promised absolute physical healing
is only fully guaranteed and realized in the
resurrection/rapture and not in this present life
in a fallen world, Paul writes “the old man is
wasting away.” Otherwise we would not ever
physically die as Word-Faith guru deceiver
Kenneth Hagin or the other word-faith deceiver
Oral Roberts did themselves. Before he died,
Hagin stated on TV that because of his faith he
hadn’t had a headache in forty years. Perhaps
not, but he had four documented cardio-vascular
failures. With a string of coronaries it is no wonder
he never had a headache. He was too busy
having heart attacks.
22 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

The term ‘nerapa lanu’ in Isaiah 53:5 is in
the present active first person plural of the infinitive
‘lerapa’ to heal from the root/ shoresh
‘rafua’ (having ‘therapeou’ as its Greek equivalent
in the New Testament and Septuagint) and
in context this verse 5 applies to spiritual and
psychological healing only. Total healing is in
the atonement guaranteed to true believers to
be fully received in the resurrection or rapture.
Any Divine healings before that are only partial
and temporary. If a guaranteed healing in this
life were true for instance why did Paul leave
Trophimus sick in Troas ( 2 Timothy 4:20) as
one example, and why do Christians still give
up the ghost
A guaranteed fully realized healing in the
atonement before the resurrection is a stupid
doctrine believed only by ignorant people and
taught by money preaching connivers who do
not often really even believe it themselves. It is
neither scriptural or logical.
There is of course much more to the subject
than this, such as healing when an illness is
caused by a specific sin as we read in James’
epistle (which in turn relates to Psalm 32 and
John chapter 5 etc.) but this is too involved to
exhaustively explain by e mail. Suffice it to say
that when God uses illness as an instrument of
correction for sin in the life of a believer, there
is a third aspect of ‘healing in the atonement’ in
that once the sin is repented of. But this subject
ventures beyond the parameters of your question
and again would require a detailed exposition to
explain properly. There is a recorded teaching I
did some years ago and is still available I think
on an MP3 on healing.
Whenever I address this subject I always try
to include a caveat. I know Christians who died
physically before their time because of false
word-faith doctrines when they claimed healings
God did not give them and ceased taking vital
medication. As the Lord said, “MY PEOPLE
PERISH FOR A LACK OF KNOWLEGE” and
this can apply both physically and spiritually.
Misunderstanding what scripture means by
‘healing in the atonement’ can kill people. In the
UK, the crown coroner, Sir Montague Levine,
once appeared on national TV news and declared
in an autopsy report that a young Pentecostal
woman, on whose remains he had just
completed a post mortem and submitted an affidavit
for the coroners findings after she drowned
in her bath when she stopped taking vital anti
epilepsy medication, would be alive had she
not gone to a Morris Cerullo crusade who was
promoted in London by Kensington Temple and
the Elim movement. This young woman did not
lack faith - she threw away her pills. But she
had faith in faith not in Jesus and she believed
false doctrine and tragically went to a premature
grave as a terrible result. Jesus can and does heal
people, but when He does they don’t die from
what He healed them from. The preachers who
feed the sheep of Christ to these money preaching
wolves are false shepherds and those who
teach these false doctrines will be held accountable
(James 3:1).
In Jesus,
Jacob Prasch
QUESTION:
On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 5:47 PM, Bill S wrote:
Letters & Comments
Jacob – I’m enjoying your book Shadows of
the Beast. I have a couple questions for you.
Do you believe that Revelation 13 precedes
Revelation 17 and 18 chronologically, or do you
believe the order is Revelation 17, then Revelation
13, and then Revelation 18
Revelation 17 – 1. Do you believe this identifies
a global religion that is based out of Rome,
(the Vatican)
* In the character of Pax Romana with the
emporer holding the Pontifical title as bridge
builder , Imperial Rome attempted to unite all
religions under the ‘Ponticate’ where they would
retain their identities and beliefs but simply see
the Pontif as the coordinator of a united religiopolitical
agenda. This foreshadows anti christ.
2. What is taking place in the future in regard
to what is being described in Rev 17: 16 to the
harlot ( “ make her desolate and naked,eat her
flesh and burn her with fire” ) Is this a total destruction,
or more of a devastation or desolation
* Once the false religious system of the world
serves anti christ’s purpose to achieve power it
will be done away with and repl;aced by the
monotheistic worship of him (anti christ).
3. Do you think the global religion is more
of a ecumenical, all roads lead to god, religion,
or an apostate Catholic dominated religious system
that other world religions become subservient
to
* It will be in the character of the ‘religio
licita’ model of Imperial Tome which we see the
foreunner of already in the interfaith movement
and Rick Warren’s global peace plan etc.
On page 458 under the character of Jezebel
section you seem to connect Jezebel in the letter
to Thyatira with the Catholic Mary and ultimately
the Jezebel sacrifices to idols with the
Eucharist. Do you believe that this Catholic
infatuation with Mary and the the Eucharist is
what causes Catholicism to be cast into the sickbed
of the great tribulation
* Jesus uses the persona and image of Queen
Jezebel to personify the spirit if false religion.
The Roman Catholic Mary (not to be confused
with the wscrtiptural one) is simply a manifestation
of this just as Artemis, Minerva, Athena ,
the Mother of Tammuz etc. were in the ancient
world. In my book “THE DILEMMA OF LA-
ODICEA” I explain the historical fulfillment of
Thyatira as the corrupted church of continuing
sacrifice. The Bubonic plague killing nearly
50% of Roman Cathjolic Europe was a partial
fulfillment of this prophecy, yet it has future eschastological
meaning.
Revelation 18 – 1. Do you believe this chapter
primarily addresses a second judgment dealing
with commercial Babylon of the Antichrist’s
or that it gives additional details to the destruction
of the harlot in Rev. 17; Rev. 17:16 more
specifically
* Babylon The Great is the false religious
system of the world in league with its corrupt
political and economic system. Chapter 17 deals
with an institutional judgment of Babylon (on
the religious component) while Chapter 18 is
the geographical judgment (on the political -
economic component).
2. Do you believe in a rebuilt Babylon, Iraq
that plays a significant role in the end times
* That the nations in biblical prophecy are
at the center of world events is indeed of prophetic
significance eschatologically and Iraq
(Mesopotamia/ Babylon/ Ur of Chaldees) is no
exception. The New Testament however identifies
Babylon as Rome in Peter’s epistle. It is the
institution that is most important , where the institution
is located is also important but not what
is most important. Eg. The NY Stock Exchange
was originally on Wall Street. Now it is actually
on Broad Street. But the NADAQ exists in
cyber-world. It is an electronic exchange. Location
is a factor but a subordinate factor to the
institution itself. There are many Wall Streets.
You can buy shares of multi-national corporations
internationally. The securities exchanges
of New York, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, etc.
are integrating rapidly in a global economy with
around the clock trading.
False religion is the same. It came from
Babylon. At varying tmes it has been located
in Pergamum and Rome. Yet it is also Mecca
(allah, the demon idol Nabatean moon god was
originally a false deity from Babylon). There are
multiple Babylons. It does seem however there
will be an ultimate one. Remember, Christ will
rule from Jerusalem and Satan wants to counterfeit
the Millenium so antichrist will come to
Jerusalem which it can also be argued has 7 hills
(if counted as they were in the first century). I
cannot however at this point be dogmatic about
the main geographical location of Babylon The
Great. That has yet to be clear to me, although I
know all the opinions.
3. If so, what is that role, is it the geo-political,
commercial, religious headquarters of the
Antichrist, or does the Antichrist like the harlot
hail from Rome
* Without doubt a resurrected Roman Empire
will be central to the anti christ’s agenda, but not
to the negation of the nations in the Middle East.
We must understand the relationship between
Herod The Great, Revelation 12, and Daniel’s 7
heads & 10 horns as detailed in the book. Herod
is the key. To the Romans he was Roman, to The
Jews he was a Jew. To the Arabs he was an Arab.
Antichrist will likewise seek to unite christendim,
Islam, and talmudic Judaism. He will seek
to be all things to all people.
Walid Shoebat, Joel Richardson etc are correct
in what they say but mistaken in what they
fail to say. Likewise those taking a traditional
view of Rome as Babylon etc.
Are also correct in what they say. They too
are wrong in what they fail to say. It is not Islam
or Christendom, East or West it is rather
Herodian; East & West, European and Middle
Eastern. Both have a piece of the pie. Understanding
Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 however
in light of the Herod motif puts the pieces of the
pie together.
REPLY:
These are massive subjects. While I am familiar
with all major views, I myself am only
dogmatic about matters of which I am positive.
But the over all picture gets clearer almost by
the day.
Off to Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai in a few
hours. I tried to call you by telephone due to my
pathetic lack of computer skills.
Blessings in Jesus,
Jacob Prasch (Philippians 1:9)
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 23

Moriel Thailand
Scott Noble
B a n g k o k
S k y l i n e
R i c e f i e l d s C h i a n g M a i
Introducing our New missionary to . . .
thailand
Introduction to Thailand ministries:
We have Bible studies with students twice
a week during the week and bring students
to church on Sundays. Most of these students
are either young Christians or non-
Christians, and we actively try to invite
new students to come. We also have camps
with students about once a month, where
the Bible is the focus. I have a Bible study
with a young Shan Christian once a week,
too. This man owns a small restaurant. He
was a novice monk in the past, but now is a
committed Christian. His Shan friend once
asked him why he worships a God that he
cannot see, instead of the Buddhist idols
which can be seen, and Mana replied to him
that those idols have eyes, but cannot see,
and ears, but cannot hear, but he has a living
God! Also I teach English and Bible at the
women’s prison in Chiang Mai once a week.
My wife Khae has been going home to visit
her parents about once a month now, and just
a few weeks ago her Dad decided to become
a Christian. We gave him a big altar Bible
with large print in Thai, and he’s been reading
the Bible each day. Please pray for him,
and Khae’s Mom and older brother who are
not Christians yet, and also for the students
that we work with, that God would give the
increase. Thank you for your prayers for His
kingdom and His glory.
Jacob’s trip...
Jacob was in Thailand from January 7th
till the 16th. On Sunday the 8th he preached
a message at an English Mennonite church
24 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012
here about the dangers of the New Age
Movement- that just as many were not ready
for Jesus’ first coming, so many Christians
won’t be ready for his second coming. Thus,
we should not go with the flow of modern
ecumenical movements, but rather we
should be faithful to God’s Word. Later in
the week, we went to Thailand’s northern
border, and crossed into Burma, where Jacob,
myself, and one Thai student preached
the gospel open air in a market place in Thai
and in English. We also handed out many
gospels of John in Burmese there. There
were many Muslim vendors there.
On Saturday we took some university students
for a Bible camp. Jacob taught them a
very basic message on the difference between
grace as opposed to trying to earn salvation
by works (sewing fig leaves). Though it was
a very basic message, it was also a very important
message, and many students said they
understood the concepts more clearly. On
Sunday, Jacob preached at a Hmong church
and I translated for him into Thai. There was
also good feedback from the students about
this message, which was about Jesus’ trial,
crucifixion and resurrection, and how each
person in the Christian walk faces similar circumstances
as did Barabas, the thief on the
cross, Simon who carried Jesus’ cross, and
Cleopas who walked and talked with Jesus,
but who did not recognize Jesus at first, because
he did not know his Bible well enough.
We also visited a long-neck village and
the Opium Museum,both very interesting.
Part Two, continued from the December issue:
Other Parallels
While surfing the web, I came across two
lists of parallels between Jesus and Buddha
in a discussion forum, posted by the same
individual. The first list has 27 parallels, and
the second list has 13 parallels. On an Islamic
sponsored website the first list mentioned
above was given in a streamlined fashion,
with 22 parallels. In these parallels, scripture
references from the Bible are given for Jesus,
but for Buddha, with the exception of
one Buddhist scripture reference, these were
referenced by giving the name of a scholar.
This has made it difficult to track down the
scripture locations for these items about Buddha,
especially since the Pali canon alone
(not taking into account all of the scriptures
of other schools) is approximately 15 times
the size of the Bible. Fortunately though, I
did find a good book which did this work
for me. This is the third book which I mentioned:
“The Life of Buddha as Legend and
History” by Edward J. Thomas. In this book
there are 16 parallels which Edwards considers
noteworthy (these are based on van den
Bergh’s work).
Incidentally, the one Buddhist scripture
mentioned in the list of 40 parallels, comes
from the 11th century AD! That reference
was from the Kathasaritsagara: “Although its
dates have not been conclusively established,
the Kathasaritsagara is said to have been compiled
by a Kashmiri Saivite Brahmin called
Somadeva in AD 1070. Legend has it that Somadeva
composed the Kathasaritsagara for
queen Suryavati, wife of King Anantadeva

Scott Noble
who ruled Kashmir in the eleventh century.”
Of the 40 parallels mentioned above, many
can be dismissed just by making the same
comparisons with people in general or religious
leaders in particular. Items such as they
both fasted for a long time, they were about
the same age when they began public ministry
(Jesus 30; Buddha 35- though Buddha’s age
is debatable here), the multitudes required a
sign from both, both taught compassion both
were of royal descent (in the case of Buddha
this is debatable), could be said of many
people, especially a religious leader.
Thomas (1927) summarizes the work of
several scholars in this area of study: Seydel’s
fifty instances are reduced by van den
Bergh to nine. In proportion to the investigator’s
direct knowledge of the Buddhist
sources the number seems to decrease. E.
W. Hopkins discusses five ‘cogent parallels’,
but does not consider any of them very probable.
Garbe assumes direct borrowing in four
cases, Simeon, the Temptation, Peter walking
on the sea, and the Miracle of the loaves
and fishes. Charpentier considers Simeon
the only unobjectionable example. Other
scholars reject all connexion. In any case the
chief events of the life- birth, renunciation,
enlightenment, and the death, the very items
which might give strength to the comparison-
disappear from the question. (247-248)
Rather than going through all of these,
I’ll just address some of the key ones. In the
case of Simeon seeing Jesus at the temple,
and Asita going to see the infant Gautama,
regarding the Buddhist scripture (Nalakasutta
of the Sutta-nipata), Thomas says, “It
is clearly late, as is shown by the reference
to the thirty-two marks; and as it is in general
agreement with the Sanskrit accounts,
there is nothing to prove that it is as early
as the pre-Christian era” (39). The thirty-two
marks refer to physical characteristics used to
identify a potential Buddha. This is thought
to be a later Mahayana development (K.R.
Norman, 1983, Pali Literature: including the
canonical literature in Prakrit and Sanskrit of
all the Hinayana schools of Buddhism, 42).
James Kennedy (1917), in his article “The
Gospels of the Infancy, the Lalita Vistara and
the Vishnu Purana”, addresses the walking
on water parallel:
The story occurs in the introduction to
Jataka No. 190…in this case all we know
is that the story of the monk, and the Jataka
which follows it, were considered old
enough to be included among 546 others,
when the Jataka book was compiled in the
fifth or sixth century A.D. (528)
Regarding the multiplying of food parallel,
Kennedy writes, “Like the story of the
monk we have just discussed, it occurs in the
introduction to a Jataka [No. 78], and is subject
to the same comment” (529).
Another parallel claim made regards the
prodigal son stories of Buddha and Jesus. For
an excellent description of the content differences
in these stories, please see the following
website: (www.comparativereligion.
com/prodigal.html). This story in Buddhist
scriptures is found in the Saddharmapundarika
sutra. According to the following Buddhist
website, the composition date of this
volume is later than the composition of Luke
(the gospel in which Jesus tells the story of
the prodigal son). Luke was Luke’s first volume,
the second being the book of Acts (both
of which are dated before 63 AD). Here’s the
dating assigned to the Saddharmapundarika
(also known as the “Lotus Sutra”): Contains
elements of various eras. The final edition
is believed to have taken place around 200
CE, but a lot of later interpolations are found
within it. The Buddha here is not a historical
figure, but the manifestation of an eternal,
abstract ‘Buddhahood’. Further, it contains
the doctrines of ‘Expedient Means’ (upaya)
and of the ‘One Vehicle’ (ekayana) www.akshin.net/literature/budlitsourcessanskrit.htm
Shin Buddhism (a form of Pure Land
Buddhism developed in Japan)
This form of Buddhism has been thought
of by many to be very similar to Christianity,
because the end goal is a “pure land,” and
achieving that goal is not based on self-effort,
but through the merits of Amida Buddha.
There are, however some serious differences
between Christianity and Shin Buddhism.
When seeking out a doctor, people want to be
sure that the doctor’s training has taken place
at a reputable school, that the doctor is basing
the diagnosis on medical facts rather than just
speculation, etc. When it comes to the soul,
how much more important is it to establish
the reliability of the source and the content
of claims Looking at Shin Buddhism in this
way, there are some serious insufficiencies:
Dharmakara’s credibility: Dharmakara is
said to have been a king who gave up his
throne to become a monk and later became
Amida Buddha. It is claimed he lived approximately
65 billion years ago- using the
time unit of a kalpa, which can also be interpreted
as being “inconceivably long” (http://
www.akshin.net/pureland/pl-purelandbuddhism-partone.
htm). If this is the case, why
did he wait until the 2nd century AD (some
say the 2nd century B.C.) to reveal this plan
of his pure land It seems rather suspect that
this concept was not developed until after
Siddhartha Gautama made his claims.
Dharmakara’s limitations: Even if we are
to believe this person existed, he was still just
a man, who was preceded by another Buddha,
and who spent approximately 22 billion
years (apparently not as a man at this point),
studying other Buddha lands, in order to
develop his famed “Pure Land.” Already it’s
apparent that he’s not on the same level as
God Almighty as revealed in the Bible.
No atonement: Shin Buddhists place their
faith in Amida Buddha to secure salvation
for them. Unfortunately, this is like trusting
Moriel Thailand
a homeless man to pay our million dollar bail
to get out of jail. He barely has the means to
sustain himself, let alone get us out of the jail
caused by our sins. Anyone with their own
sins to deal with (which is everyone, including
Dharmakara if we are to suppose he existed),
can only take the punishment for their
own sins. Even then though, being imperfect,
this bearing of sins can only fulfill justice.
It can’t pay for salvation. Only Jesus, being
God in the flesh, and sinless, could take the
punishment for others.
Shinran’s choice of patriarchs (focusing
on the first patriarch): Shinran is the man
who developed Shin Buddhism into what it
is today. He lived in Japan from 1173- 1262
AD. In an attempt to establish authority for
his new interpretation of Pure Land, Shinran
chose seven patriarchs: He acknowledged
Sakyamuni Buddha as being the voice of
Amida Buddha, and then named the first patriarch-
Nagarjuna, a man in India who lived
from c. 150 AD- c. 250 AD . This wide gap
from the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, to the
time of the first patriarch (500 years, if not
more) shows just how far removed from the
original it is. Also, Nagarjuna is said to have
had interactions with giant snakes, just as
Sakyamuni encountered Mucalinda:
Mahayana tradition explains the chronological
discrepancy by contending that they
were indeed taught by the Buddha to advanced
disciples, but that he ordered that
they be hidden in the underwater realm of
nagas (beings with snakelike bodies and human
heads) until the time was right for their
propagation. The legend further reports that
the second-century philosopher Nagarjuna
(fl. ca. 150 C.E.) was the person preordained
by Buddha to recover and explicate the Perfection
of Wisdom texts.
After one of his lectures, some nagas approached
him and told him of the texts hidden
in their kingdom, and so Nagarjuna traveled
there and returned with the sutras to India.
This is a man who was taught by giant
snakes! How can we entrust ourselves to such
teachings What parents would leave their
baby in the care of a cobra Half of Nagarjuna’s
name is of Hindu origin, and the other half
comes from his interactions with these nagas:
When he preached the Dharma in the
monastery park, the nagas performed acts of
reverence such as six of the serpents forming
a parasol to shade him from the sun. Having
thus become the Lord of the Nagas, the
Acarya was named “The Naga”. Because his
skill at spreading the Mahayana Dharma resembled
the shooting speed and mastery of
the famed archer Arjuna, he became known
as well as “The Arjuna”
Shin Buddhism’s scriptures: Shin Buddhism
is based on the writings of the seven
patriarchs, as well as on the three primary
texts: scriptures of this tradition [Pure Land
in general] (which later became known as
the Triple Sutras) appeared during the ini-
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 25

Moriel Thailand– Continued
tial period of the Mahayana movement. Two
of them are of Indian origin and date from
about the first century B.C. The third scripture,
which dates from about the fourth century,
exists only in a Chinese version.
Apart from being late in and of themselves,
Shinran, and other patriarchs made
changes to the doctrines. Also, Amida Buddha
is not even mentioned in the earlier Pali
canon. The Pali canon itself is not exactly a
history textbook, but it is closer to the time
of the Sakyamuni Buddha.
Pure Land’s change in status: One example
of a changed doctrine is that originally
the Pure Land was thought to be an intermediary
place, ideally suited for obtaining
nirvana. Later it was believed that the Pure
Land is the end goal itself.
In summary, trusting in Shin Buddhism is
like playing soul roulette with every barrel
loaded. The founder (Dharmakara) is probably
entirely mythical. Even if we suppose
he existed, he is so human that he could not
have even saved himself. And, the record of
Shin Buddhism’s teachings speaks of relying
on snakes and late, revised ideas.
The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ as compared
to Sakyamuni Buddha
There are over 300 prophesies about Jesus
in the Old Testament (the most recent ones
are 400 years B.C.; most are older than that).
In Thomas’ book which gave a very detailed
account, including perspectives from various
schools, I found one prophecy at the time of
his birth, when it was said he would become
a great king if he stayed in the palace, but
would become a Buddha if he left. Also, the
Buddhavamsa text contains prophecies by
the previous 24 Buddhas. Although the Buddhavamsa
is part of the Pali canon, Thomas
refers to it as another example of “hagiographical
industry” (xxi), and being in the
Pali, it would have been composed after the
death of Sakyamuni.
Jesus had a forerunner to announce His arrival
(John the Baptist - who was also prophesied
in (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/Isaiah%2040.3,
Isaiah 40:3)
Jesus’ “mother” outlived Him (on earth,
that is) [Buddha’s mother died seven days
after he was born (Thomas, 33)]
Jesus, being God in the flesh, created His
“mother” and all people
Jesus was born into a poor family (as
opposed to Buddha’s royal upbringing- although
it is in dispute as to whether Buddha
was really of royalty)
Jesus didn’t need teachers (whereas in
the stories of the Buddha, he had several
teachers, and words such as “searching” and
“striving” are used)
Jesus could “borrow” a tomb (He used it
for less than three days)
Jesus’ public ministry lasted for 3 years.
Buddha’s lasted for 45 years
Jesus died at age 33 (by crucifixion). Buddha
died at age 80 (by unintentional food
poisoning). This difference also has a bearing
on recording the events of their lives. If
two people died today at these ages (33 and
80), in order to find eyewitnesses of these accounts
for the person who was 33, we’d have
to find people who were living around 1969
to the present. For the person who was 80,
we’d have to find people who were alive (and
at least 10 years old, such that they would
have a clear memory of the events) around
1922. It becomes clear that there would have
been far more eyewitnesses (both sympathetic
and hostile- which meant the writers
had to be accurate in their retelling of the
events) for Jesus.
Jesus is not one in a series of greats- rather
He is completely unique- God in the flesh.
Buddha, depending on which text is used
was preceded by 6, 24, 54, or more than a
hundred previous Buddhas (Thomas, 27).
Jesus, though tempted, such that He could
be understanding and compassionate, was
completely sinless. Sakyamuni Buddha had
many sins, as is evidenced by the many lives
that are claimed for him (547 previous lives
as recorded in the Jataka tales), in which he
had to work off his bad karma.
The Pali Canon
The Pali Canon is held to be the closest
to the original teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha.
Of course there are many other Buddhist
scriptures besides the Pali Canon (such
as Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese scriptures).
Earlier I mentioned that the Pali Canon is approximately
15 times the size of the Bible.
The Chinese Canon is approximately 120
times the size of the Bible! (www.akshin.net/
literature/budlitsourceschina.htm)
Thomas in his biography of the Buddha,
writes, “The earliest period at which we have
evidence for the existence of a body of Scriptures
approximating to the present Canon is
at the third Council held B.C. 247…” (XlX).
The reason he says “approximating” is because
within the Pali canon some parts are
considered to be much later than 247 B.C.
Thomas goes on to say, “We have nothing,
even in the Pali, at all like ‘the real facts of
the Gospel history’ to put in the place of the
Sanskrit legend. We have merely other forms
of the same legend, some earlier and some
later” (XXlV).
Amazing Grace
Stephen H. Short was a Zen Buddhist
for 13 years before turning to Christ. In an
online article he retraces how he became involved
in Zen and how he decided to leave.
Here are some excerpts:
I considered whether there might be truth
beyond Zen that I would never find because
through Zen I had lost all desire to look for
it. Watching my desires and attachments appear
and trying not to hold on to them, I also
watched my attention becoming more and
more focused on myself. Though we students
bowed, chanted, meditated, ate, and slept together,
we might just as well have been alone
on a mountain top….The irony of becoming
wrapped up in the self in order to lose the
self was not lost on me. We were told that
bringing our attachments to awareness was
a prerequisite to letting them go. Might not
increased awareness subtly lead to increased
attachment Were we trading bondage to desire
for bondage to self-absorption
Jim Stephens was a Nichiren Shoshu
Buddhist for 14 years. In his online account
(www.equip.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.
aspxc=muI1LaMNJrE&b=4127511&con
tent_id=%7BAF924113-1C05-4D38-A299-
D99331EA7FD2%7D&notoc=1) he gives
the reasons for his departure from Buddhism
and how he turned to Jesus Christ. Here are
three excerpts:
The accident report read, “Cause: Act of
God.” I was in a train station in Japan, making
a pilgrimage to the head Buddhist temple
Daisekiji at the foot of Mount Fuji, when a
young man – in perfect English – warned:
“Beware the winds of Himeiji!” Three and
one-half hours later, I was leaning over to
put some postcards into my travel bag and
heard someone yell a warning in Japanese.
The next thing I knew, a sign weighing
nearly 200 pounds came crashing down on
my back…I was painfully lost in a spiritual
wasteland and was weighed down with sin. I
realized that while Buddhism had benefited
me in many ways, it ultimately led to a spiritual
dead end. As a great wise man, King
Solomon, once said: “There is a way that
seems right to a man, but in the end it leads
to death” (http://biblia.com/bible/nasb95/
Prov.%2016.25, Prov. 16:25)…That night,
my wife- a Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist for 16
years- also believed. What grace!
Lit-Sen Chang (1904- 1996) was a university
professor at age 21, and his thoughts
were influential among Chinese government
leaders. In his Christian testimony he writes,
“Though after my conversion I also wrote
five million words as before my conversion,
the fruits were different” (294). He goes on
to say how feedback from his readers shows
lives changed for the better. Some of his later
books are “A Christian Critique of Humanism”,
“The Spiritual Decline of the West”,
“Transcendental Meditation”, “Comprehensive
Christian Apologetics” (four volumes),
and “Zen- Existentialism.” In his book
“Asia’s Religions: Christianity’s momentous
encounter with paganism,” he tells of how
he became a Christian at age 50, after deep
involvement with various Asian religions.
Here’s an excerpt:
I was intoxicated with Confucianism,
Buddhism and Taoism as were many other
Chinese scholars, and became the founding
President of Kiang Nan University. The
Yung De-sheng family donated five thousand
acres of land, beside the most beautiful
lake T’ai Hu. This was to be the center of a
26 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

esurgence movement of Asian religions and
culture. My purpose was to revive Asian religions
and destroy Christianity. I was fortyfive
years old. (290)
Through a surprise change of plans he went
to Indonesia instead of India, and was invited
to the opening ceremony for a new church.
This became the beginning of his life in Christ.
Kaneki Masuda, of Omuta, Japan, became
a Christian four and a half years ago. Here’s
part of his story:
I had been a Buddhist for 40 years. I did
all of the many and varied ascetic practices
of that religion, such as: standing under cold
water falls, Zen practices, sitting in Zen meditation
in the snow and ice, all-night meditations,
fastings, etc. Furthermore, of the many
sects of Buddhism, I chose to believe in the
“Fudo”- the god of fire. In my own way, I
endeavored to serve that sect. And, now, I
suddenly realize I am 71 years of age.
According to A Dictionary of Buddhist
Terms and Concepts, “Fudo is a Buddhist
deity who serves practitioners by defeating
the obstacles and devils which hinder Buddhist
practice…He is popularly depicted as
an angry figure surrounded by flames, holding
a rope and a sword.” Fudo is among the
deities called myoo. The Kodansha Encyclopedia
explains further:
Myoo were originally non-Buddhist Hindu
deities who were adopted into the pantheon
of ESOTERIC BUDDHISM…The deities
have been especially popular in Japan, chiefly
since the introduction of esoteric Buddhist
traditions in the 9th century…the most popular
of the myoo is Fudo; the temple Shinshoji
(Naritasan) in Chiba Prefecture is the center
of the Fudo cult.
When Mr. Masuda went to the hospital for
an operation, he took with him a book (“From
Buddhism to Christianity” by former Shin
Buddhist priest Kamegai Ryoun) his
daughter had given him. He explains:
I was totally ignorant of Christ, but as I
continued to read, I felt the depth of love and
Christ’s sacrifice of Himself and his family
to help others. I was half believing and half
doubting, wondering if these things could
possibly be true. Anyway, I couldn’t put the
book down and read all night long. It was
time for breakfast the next morning when I
finished the book.
The story goes on, and he was transformed
by the amazing grace of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Jesus said, “He who is not with me is
against me, and he who does not gather
with me, scatters” (http://biblia.com/bible/
nasb95/Luke%2011.23, Luke 11:23). Buddha
is a false teacher. The teachings of
Buddha and Jesus cannot be mixed without
causing a poisoning effect. To say that there
are some good morals in Buddhism is not
enough, when the spiritual effect is to poison
the soul against God. If a glass of water is 99
% pure water, and only 1% poison, it’s still
fatal. Buddha is often thought of as a man
who was a spiritual pioneer searching for answers.
The picture is not quite as innocent as
that though. He was also a man adrift on the
fascination of his own status. In the Acchariyabbhutadhamma-sutta
(of the Pali canon),
Buddha and other bodhissattas are quoted as
saying at their birth, “I am the chief in the
world, I am the best in the world, I am the
first in the world.” Also, in the Pali canon (in
the Majjhima) he is quoted as saying, “Alone
am I the All- enlightened.” This puts him
beyond being a mere innocent seeker. And
yet, in other places, Buddha takes more of
an agnostic view of things: “…the Buddha
often declared that he was merely a ‘guide’
(Dh 276), not an authority (D 2:100, 154),
and that all propositions, including his own
should be tested (A 1:188 f)” (New Light
From An Old Lamp- 5 lectures by Tan Beng
Sin, Piyasilo). He gave people mere speculations
which in truth lead people farther from
God and reality.
Coming back to my opening remarks about
the Buddha sitting on a giant cobra, this story
is from the Udana of the Pali canon. Concerning
the breaking of his bones for distribution,
this story seems to be a legend developed later.
Working out of the Mahaparinibbana of
the Pali, Thomas writes, “But the Mallas of
Kusinara in their assembly refused to make a
division, as the Lord had attained Nirvana in
their domain. Then the brahmin Dona counseled
concord, and proposed to divide the relics
into eight equal parts for each of the eight
claimants” (155). These relics are apparently
his robe and bowl and such items, since the
Buddha was said to have been cremated: “It
burned without leaving behind any of the
skin, flesh, sinews, or fluid of the joints, or
any ash and soot” (155). There are however
two lists which mention five teeth as relics.
By contrast, Jesus Christ is alive and well,
and has the power to transform any repentant
sinner. Our problem as humans is not that we
have no SELF, as Buddhism asserts, but that
our SELF is in rebellion against God. But God
made us, and He knows what’s best for us.
Our choice here boils down to the sure Word
of God as revealed in the Bible, or the empty
speculations of Buddhism. We are in fact
commanded to make the right choice, and we
are also shown demonstrable love in Jesus’
crucifixion on our behalf, but we have the
ten witnesses (the ten commandments) testifying
to our guilt if we refuse. I want to ask
you the reader, please make the right choice.
Any questions or comments I can be
contacted at: www.chukar@hotmail.com. If
you’re writing for the first time, please send
four e-mails of the same message, so I can
easily spot it in my junk mail folder. After
that I’ll add you to my safe-list.
Moriel Thailand – Continued
Jacob in thailand
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 27

Moriel Australian
Margret Godwin
AUSTRALIANnews
March, 2012
Australian Report
Greetings in the Name of Jesus. Well dear readers here we start
another year – will this be the year that the Lord comes for us
Oil in the Lamp!
As I set this report it is only the third week of January but we
need to have a decent lead time to allow for proofing, preparation
& printing etc. I was thinking to myself why in this age of “instant
everything” do we have to have what seems an excessive
amount of preparatory time. Well of course the obvious reason
being that as in all things for our Lord we want to give our best
but you know me and my mind wandering and I put the Return
of the Lord in place of preparatory times for this report. We want
to do our best for the Lord and He even after giving His beloved
Son to die for us, going on to leave His Holy Spirit to guide us
still continues to give us opportunities to be in right standing with
Him. Least He come and we are not ready – The Lamp is only
quarter full of oil and the evening is early. BUT for how long
Australia Day Celebrations
Here in Australia we celebrate Australia Day on the 26th of
January. The stores are full of flags, flag aprons. flag paper plates,
flag thongs (I cannot recall what you call them in the USA) and
anything else they can sell with a flag imprinted on it. Like many
other countries we celebrate (in our case) our freedom and good
way of life, however, whilst the nation is celebrating we Christians
are in mourning for the incredible country we used to inhabit
– a land where our way of life, government, education &
law was founded on Christian principles and here we are in 2012
and Christ has been tossed aside – there is no reference to Him
anymore. Now we are celebrating same sex marriages, abortion
on demand, a divorce rate one of the highest in the world. Children
having a parade of different mothers and fathers through
their short little lives – where are the role models for these casualties
– surely the time must be close!
Quarterly Re-registrations
Thank you to all those readers who returned their forms. Thank
you also for your financial support, it is gratefully received and
most importantly we thank you for your prayers for Jacob and
the work of the Ministry.
I must offer an apology to our Australian readers who responded
to the final reminder in the December issue – on the form it
stated that all said forms must be returned by the 31st December
2011 and what with the mail being closed for a week these flyers
were not received until the first week in January 2012. I had
some frantic mail with varying comments “sorry for the delay,
please don’t remove us from the list, we just got this and so on”
But the one I really love and I think it is the same one each year
and it says “Are you mad, take me off the list, that magazine is
the only thing that keeps me going!”
This one did make me laugh.
The Public Secrets of How Life Really Works – Dr. Anthony
Sasse
There are Four Laws that affect everyone.
The Consequences of Unforgiven Sin.
The Consequences of Living in a Fallen/Defective World.
The Forces of Evil.
The Law of Free Will.
You can run, but you can’t hide from these.
No Exemptions. Real laws, powerful.
This article was published in the December issue (Australia)
2011 and we had so much feed back I have asked the Quarterly
Editor to run it in this International version.
Overwhelmingly people were thrilled with the simple down
to earth (easy to read) article. But even more than that, readers
were thankful for the most timely warning – I certainly was personally.
If this article is not published in this March issue please feel
free to email me here at Moriel Australia and I will send you a
copy, moriel@vic.australis.com.au
I am including part of one of the letters received.
Dear Dr Sasse,
Thank you for that marvelous article you wrote for Moriel. It
should be taught in all schools, just as it is. It covers everything
so clearly & concisely, without any unnecessary rhetoric which
pastors use to either pad out a sermon or show how learned they
are. Often it results in one being lost in a dull haze of boredom,
as one gets lost in the fluff.
Everything anyone needs to know for basic Christian living
according to God’s terms is laid out crisply and clearly. It really
packs a punch, because it is so refreshingly uncomplicated. – no
Churches, no Popes or Pastors – absolutely seriously no nonsense
& it really does make sense. Congratulations!
Please write some more wonderful articles like that for Moriel.
You are a breath of fresh air.
God bless you as you serve Him,
Mrs A of Queensland
Resource Catalogue – SPECIAL ADVICE TO AUSTRALIAN
READERS
In September we put out our first full print catalogue since
2003 and have been overwhelmed by the response and the orders
but to our Australian Readers I must explain that the “Resource
Catalogue” that you get on the Moriel (www.moriel.org) site is
only a small part of what we offer. So to avoid any confusion
please contact the office to get a copy emailed to you or a printed
copy sent to your postal address.
Contact: moriel@vic.australis.com.au or telephone 03 5633
2300 – outside Australia, telephone: 61 3 5633 2300.
Extra copies of the Quarterley
Should you require extra copies on a regular basis please contact
our office.
Well dears it is time for me to close, to each of you my love.
May the Lord hold you close to Himself.
In His service
Marg
28 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

Elon and Hadass Moreh
Moriel Israel
It’s Chilly Here . . .
It’s winter here on the Mediterranean
coast.UK readers will think we are somewhat
“nesh” for feeling cold when its 15 Celsius
at nights, especially when it’s about 24 degrees
during the day, but we laugh in summer
when we see the UK Weather Service
calling 27 Celsius a “heat wave”. During
the winter season here it’s too cold to have
the mums and todds group on the terrace,
and many of the children are now attending
kindergarten After a certain age here kindergarten
is compulsory because it is important
for children to be speaking Hebrew, and that
is subsidised. However, before that age fees
can be expensive and can consume all the income
of one wage earner in a family group.
Some of our young couples need at the moment
to have both husband and wife working,
but cannot afford kindergarten to look after
the children, so Hadass and I have agreed to
take some children of families in the congregation
in the afternoon to care for them
so the mums can work. This is quite a commitment,
but these young couples need help
while they stabilise their financial situations
and get established. Our first customer is a
nice little chap but only speaks Portuguese
at present. He is a good mimic though, and
is rapidly picking up phrases in English like,
“Oh Dear!” and “Gorgeous”. I can’t leave
Hadass with all the care, all the time, so I
have to sit with him sometimes. Consequently
I can now recongise the Portuguese phrase
for “Can I have a nappy change” (and notify
Hadass that she is needed!) and the word for
“mummy” (which he repeatedly cried out
after falling over backwards and banging
his head on the floor), and I am also developing
a growing familiarity with “Thomas
the Tank Engine” and “Bob the Builder.”
I came across the national road accident
statistics a few weeks ago. Way down the
league Nahariya had only 500 with no fatalities.
Unfortunately Hadass and I were involved
in 0.5% of them. Careless motorists,
either dreamboating, on mobile phones or
driving too close, have rear ended us twice
in 5 months when we stopped at pedestrian
crossings, causing 16,000 Shekels worth of
damage. Thankfully it comes off their insurance,
not ours, but it does degrade the value
of the car and even with a good repair does
weaken it. It also makes you paranoid each
time you pull up at a red light or crossing.
Another two rear-enders and the insurance
company will probably write the car off,
not something ideal, as the vehicle is only 4
½ years old and new cars are hideously expensive
here. Your prayers for protection on
the roads would be appreciated as our van is
somewhat indispensable.
We are still carrying on serving in the believing
community here. Praise the Lord, the
number of people needing food assistance
from the congregation has dwindled, so that
has lessened our load in that area. However,
now I am running a small Bible study group
on a Wednesday and have agreed to teach
someone else on another day as well. Please
pray for these things.
A Few Puzzling Phrases
There are some phrases in Scripture that
at first glance seem puzzling. Sometimes
it’s good to follow the rabbit trails of Scripture
and search out things that interest us. I
thought I would just share with you one rabbit
trail I went down recently, and hope that
it interests you, too.
“Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh; And declared
to be the Son of God with power,
according to the spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead:”
“Therefore let all the house of Israel
know assuredly, that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified,
both Lord and Messiah.” (Acts 2:36)
The first question that comes into our mind
here might be: “Hasn’t Jesus always been the
Son of God from eternity” And hasn’t He
always been the Messiah from eternity too
Why did He need to be made Messiah and
declared Son of God” Yes, of course that is
absolutely true. Jesus always has been God.
One reason that we can have problems with
a text is because sometimes we approach it
thinking what it ought to say, without letting
Scripture speak for itself. Not every Scripture
about sonship or Messiahship is dealing
with the same aspect of it and we also need
to properly define the terms “Son” and “Messiah”
before we rush to interpreting the text.
I would say Peter is almost certainly referring
here to Psalm 2. “The kings of the earth
stand up and the rulers take council together
against the LORD and against His Anointed
(Messiah).” As for Paul, in Acts 13 is an example
of one of Paul’s sermons, albeit in somewhat
compressed form, and we actually see
Psalm 2 again in connection to this very concept
of resurrection, ascension and Sonship:
“And when they had fulfilled all that was
written of him, they took him down from
the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
But God raised him from the dead: And
he was seen many days of them which
came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem,
who are his witnesses unto the
people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which
was made unto the fathers, God hath
fulfilled the same unto us their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again;
as it is also written in the second psalm,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. And as concerning that he
raised him up from the dead, now no
more to return to corruption, he said on
this wise, I will give you the sure mercies
of David.”
At first glance this passage seems a strange
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 29

Moriel Israel– Continued
one to teach of the resurrection of the Messiah
from the dead, and this is a separate and very
interesting question in itself. However on a
merely human level, the term “son” is used
of Israel’s king in some contexts in the Scriptures,
just as Israel is termed the LORD’s son
in some passages. This usage of the term in
some contexts implies a covenantal rather
than natural relationship. We can also see
that some of Jesus’ contemporaries understood
this passage as referring to kingship at
least in a human sense (unfortunately they
understood it only in this way). If we take
a look at Jesus’ trial we see the following:
“But Jesus held his peace. And the high
priest answered and said unto him, I
adjure thee by the living God, that thou
tell us whether thou be the Messiah, the
Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, “Thou
hast said: nevertheless I say unto you,
Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man
sitting on the right hand of power, and
coming in the clouds of heaven.” Then
the high priest rent his clothes, saying,
He hath spoken blasphemy; what further
need have we of witnesses behold,
now ye have heard his blasphemy. What
Think ye They answered and said, He
is guilty of death.”
Notice the words: “tell us whether thou
be the Messiah the Son Of God”. The only
place in the OT where the terms Messiah and
Son appear closely together is in Psalm 2.
Jesus was charged on oath to declare as to
whether he was the promised Messiah King
of Psalm 2 or not. The Sanhedrin clearly
understood Psalm 2 and “Thou art my Son
this day have I begotten Thee”, in light of the
previous verse “Yet have I set my king on my
holy hill”. In other words they recognized it
as referring to an appointment to kingship. It
is probably because of this reason that Jesus
avoided using the term “Son of God” in certain
company, because it would have created
unhelpful expectations in the people. The
problem with the Jewish authorities was that
their understanding stopped there, they did
not join up the dots with Psalm 2’s companion
psalm.
Jesus however did.
Notice also how Jesus pulls in another
term, “seated at the right hand of power”.
This is a clear allusion to Psalm 110 long
recognized even then as a Messianic psalm:
“The LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at
my right hand until I make thine enemies
the footstool of thy feet”. Jesus made it even
more explicit as to what He meant by referring
to Daniel 7’s “Son of Man” motif. The
Sanhedrin tried to “stitch up” Jesus before
Pilate on the grounds that He claimed to be
a king in opposition to Caesar, but this was
not the grounds on which they themselves
condemned Him. They condemned Him for
blasphemy when He claimed to be Messiah
and Son of God, not just in the human sense
of being king of Israel (as they understood it),
but in the fullest sense of the word (see Hebrews
1)—possessing divine nature and authority,
the very Son of Man whose kingdom
and dominion is everlasting, who comes on
the clouds of heaven and who sits at the right
hand of power, the One who is both David’s
Lord and also priest for ever after the order
of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4).
Jesus was the first to connect Psalm 2 and
110 together to give a fuller understanding of
the nature of the Messiah, and thereafter we
see them repeatedly referred and alluded to
by the apostles.
If we understand parts of both Psalm 2 and
110 in terms of taking up of authority and
office, it connects well with Daniel 7:12-13
which Jesus referred to in His trial: “One like
the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven,
and came to the Ancient of days, and they
brought him near before him. And there was
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people, nations, and languages,
should serve him” this also corresponds to
what we find in Acts 2, which at first glance
seemed a little strange because it says Jesus
was “made” both Lord and Messiah and lo
and behold, we see Psalm 110 also.
“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof
we all are witnesses. Therefore being
by the right hand of God exalted,
and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath
shed forth this, which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens: but he saith himself, The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my
right hand, Until I make thy foes thy
footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly, that God hath
made that same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
(Acts 2:32-36)
And we see also this appointment concept
in Hebrews 5:5-6:
“So also the Messiah glorified not himself
to be made an high priest; but he
that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to
day have I begotten thee. As he saith
also in another place, Thou art a priest
for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”
The author of Hebrews weaves the “thou
art my Son etc.” Originally connected with
kingship in Psalm 2, together with “a priest
after the order of Melchisedec” in psalm 110,
thus showing us that Jesus’ ascent to kingship
and priesthood are linked, in the apostle’s
thinking, and from Peter’s and Paul’s
sermons and letters we see that this appointment
was connected with Jesus’ resurrection
and ascension. If we remember also Jesus’
own words where He likened Himself to
someone who went on a journey to receive a
kingdom (Lk 19:12), then we can see that in
one aspect Romans 1:4, “declared to be Son
of God” could refer to his receiving of His
kingdom and entering into His High Priestly
ministry. The problem is that we are used to
seeing Messiah as a title only, but it also describes
a state of being, or office, so in many
places it is translated “anointed”. Thus Saul
was described by David as “His (that is the
LORD’s) anointed (messiah)” using exactly
the same construction in Hebrew as in Psalm
2:6. If we remember that both kings and
priests were “anointed” into office this adds
the finishing piece to our puzzle as how Jesus
was “made” Messiah and “declared” to
be the Son of God.
Finally, we would just ask your prayers
for the up building of the believing community
in our town, for the LORD’s blessing
on the work here, and that there would be
many opportunities to share the Gospel with
our friends and neighbors and people we just
meet. Also, that the new facility and even our
homes would be places of blessing and filled
with the LORD’s presence, and for growth
both numerically and in godly character and
faith of us all. May the LORD bless you all.
Elon and Hadass
moriel’s
prayer
closet
A Small corner of rest from the chaos
and tumult of the world around us....
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter
onto thy closet, and when thou
hast shut thy door, pray to thy
Father which is in Secret; and thy
Father which seeth in Secret will
reward thee openly.”
– Matthew 6:6 –
“If two of you shall agree in touching
anything they shall ask, it shall
be done of them by my father which
is in heaven.”– Matthew 18:19
• Prayer - Persecuted church in Viet Nam
30 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012

- After speaking at Mennonite, student, and
Hmong churches we did an evangelism trip
into Burma with our Moriel team from Northern
Thailand. The government of Myanamar
(Burma) is just liberalizing very slightly. We
were also able to distribute food parcels to
the poor and homeless in that verydesperate
country in addition to gospel tracts in Burmese
and preaching the good news of Jesus
openly in the marketplace. We have an ex
Buddhist monk from Myanamar from a family
of opium growers now following Jesus
and helping us. We also visited Laos where
two pastors were just released from communist
prison. Thanks to the goodness of God
working through the prayers and generosity
of our readers and friends we were able to
set up a secret printing press in Vietnam and
print thousands of illegal bibles in the Hmong
language last week. We met secretly with one
of the Hmong leaders in Thailand outside of
communist jurisdiction.
Unfortunately today we received an “SOS”
from the underground church we support and
assist and who pastors and evangelist we
do training seminars for among the Hmong
mountain tribal people. The English in this
transmission is very poor but you can understand
the appeal for prayer. One evangelist
we trained has been arrested and tortured
by the communist authorities for preaching
Jesus and the situation appears desperate.
They released him temporarily after 18 days
so others can see what they did to him as an
apparent deterrent to preaching Christ but he
has apparently been rearrested. We cannot
include certain details for security reasons.
Please pray for his release from prison and
for his protection. The believers in the Hagiang
region are also experiencing extreme
difficulty and poverty. Please stand with us
in prayer for them.
• PrayER - Moriel & Jacob Prasch request
prayer for S’phiwe of EBYOWN, he
was 15 yesterday. He will be going for a few
blood tests next week, white cells not as they
should be, he’s not gaining weight and he has
some opportunistic fungal stuff on his body.
• PrayER - Moriel & Jacob Prasch request
urgent prayer for Chuck Smith, founder of
Calvary Chapel. Chuck Smith announced on
New Years Day he has been diagnosed with
lung cancer requiring a biopsy this week followed
by pulmonary surgery. Chuck , now in
his mid eighties, is a friend of Jacob Prasch
with whom he has shared conference platforms,
and a friend of many people in Moriel.
We request prayer for his health at this time
and for The Lord’s wisdom and guidance for
his physicians.
• PrayER - Moriel & Jacob Prasch request
prayer for Pastor Steve Mitchell, a friend of
Moriel in Virginia, who is battling Leukemia.
Steve is a fairly young gentleman originally
from Hawaii. He is undergoing a variety of
therapies including chemo and is in considerable
discomfort. We pray that in His mercy
The Lord will graciously intervene.
March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 31