EXPLOITS MAGAZINE February 2014

I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.

With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.

Jeremiah 31: 3Photo by Helen Lineen

W W W . E X P L O I T S . T V

By Christine DargIt’s an honour to walk the ramparts

of the City of God, to commit the New Yearand all of our nations, families and ministrypartners to the Lord. Truly we can reportthat solidarity between Jews and Christiansgrew as we prayed together at each event.Ten nations were represented in this year’sconvocation. God seemed to smile with asolar rainbow over our prayer walk.

New Year Convocation:Israel Is Arising,

Our Nations Declining

Delivering warm winter clothing for Christian Syrian refugees

Lance Lambert always gives us much food for strategic prayer

Pasha's Throne Room, American Colony Hotel, founded by Horatio Spafford, author of the hymn, “It is Well with My Soul.” In the 1800s, every day at the hour of prayer 3 p.m., the American Colonyheld a prayer meeting in this room to pray Bible prophecies. General Allenby and Lawrence of Arabiastayed here when it was a hospice and hospital. A sheet from the American Colony was used whenthe Ottomans surrendered to the British. Because Exploits Ministry held our Throne Room PrayerFellowship here for 10 years, it is a delight to return for recent convocations. Worship is led by Israelisongwriter Rosalind Hershkovitz.

London-born Peter Darg (above left) and Patrick Lineen from the UK pray over one of our speakers,

Bob O’Dell from Texas, before Bob held a seminar to motivate Orthodox Jews

to formulate new start-ups.

Proclamations atop Jaffa Gatewith Mt. of Olives in background

Exploits MinistryOutreaches toJewish and ArabCommunities

Photos on this page representsome of the many outreaches that Exploits Ministry delegates and partnersfunded during our 2014 New YearWatchmen and Women on the Walls Intercessory Prayer Convocation. Atright and above, we held an outreachin  Bethlehem’s Manger Square, wherewe distributed Gospel DVDs, gifts andBibles as team members engaged insharing the love of Jesus.

This is the logo of Be’ad Chaim,Israeli Pro-Life. Our offering of nearly$4,000 will save the lives of two Israeli

babies andnurture eachof those babies for oneyear. Below,team memberDaniel Harbichof Germany

and delegates ministered during a visit toHolocaust Survivors in Jerusalem. It wasa touching time for all of us, including ourUK Trustee Barbara Dingle, who posed tenderly with one of the survivors of the1938 Kindertransport of Jewish children:

Thanks also to partners! faithful donations, we were able to give a $1,000 offering to Jerusalem!s Christ Church forbeleaguered Christians in Syria. Our delegates also donated toys for the needyfamily of an Orthodox rabbi who has more than 20 children and grandchildren.

More than 100 gifts below were also donated by our team for distribution during the Orthodox Christmas of theCoptic Church founded by St. Mark.

Nancy Crowell being besieged during our Bethlehem outreach!

God!s "Chesed! and "Agape! LoveBy Christine Darg

!e word “love” appears in the Bible morethan 300 times, and God has a lot to teach usabout love. As the book of First John reminds us,“God IS love.” So why is the world so full of hateand broken relationships?

On a recent visit to Zagreb, Croatia, wewere amazed to discover one of the city’s maintourist attractions, the “Museum of Broken Relationships.” Broken-hearted donors from allover the world have contributed small personalitems to share their stories of unrequited love.

One of the greatest exploits we can do is tohelp to mend broken hearts! On Valentine’s Daythe world makes a big commercial venture out oflove, but I’d like to consider a di"erent type of love-- the unending, covenant love of God. What is acovenant? It’s a treaty, a pact, an accord, an agreement, a pledge or a guarantee, a legal contract, a promise not to be broken. In the Bible,God has faithfully vowed to keep his covenant tobless and love his people unto a thousand generations. I do enjoy studying the character ofYehovah, who has revealed himself as a covenant-keeping God. He is never capricious.

Valentine’s Day started out as a religiousfestival observed on February 14 in the Anglicanand Lutheran churches to celebrate a saint namedValentine. He was imprisoned under the RomanEmpire for ministering to persecuted believersand for performing weddings for soldiers whowere forbidden to marry. In 18th Century England,the tradition evolved into an occasion to present#owers and candy to sweethearts and to send romantic greeting cards.

Israel has a holiday of love called Tu B’Av, a minor Jewish holiday occurring in the summer.According to the Babylonian Talmud, Tu B’Av wasa joyous holiday in the days of the holy Temple inJerusalem. Hoping to catch the eye of suitors, unmarried women dressed in white garments anddanced in the vineyards. In modern times Tu B’Avhas become a Jewish Valentine’s Day, an occasionfor marriage proposals, engagement ceremonies,weddings and also vow renewals.

In the English language we have basically

one word for love, but the Greek language ofthe New Testament has more than one wordfor love. Agápe, or God’s love, refers to adeeper sense of unconditional love rather than physical attraction. Agape love is sel#ess;it gives and expects nothing in return. In fact,agape is the word used in the “great love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, and is describedthroughout the New Testament as sacri$ciallove without any self-bene$t. Agape is alsoused in ancient manuscripts to denote feelingsfor children and for a spouse. Agape was usedby Christians to express the unconditional loveof God, the kind of love that God still holds forhis ancient people Israel.

Éros on the other hand, the Greek wordfrom which we get the English word erotic, ispassionate love. Sexual love, eros, is never usedin the New Testament. Even marital love is ideally agape in its main expression, as inEphesians 5:25, where Paul used agape: “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.”

Philia, a third type of love, is a"ectionfor friends, family, things and communities.Many words in English are derived from thisGreek word denoting a"ection, or preference. Philadelphia, a city mentioned in the New Testament, means the “city of brotherly love.”Anglophiles love all things English. Europhileslove European things. A Semitophile is a loverof Jewish culture and people, and so forth.

Old Testament Hebrew uses two mainwords for love, “ahab” and “chesed.” Love inthe ahab sense is the closest to the Englishmeaning and refers to love between people or

This article is my ‘Valentine’ to You & to Israel

toward God. Jacob’s willingness to work sevenyears to obtain Rachel for his wife clearly involveda high degree of ahab romantic love, for Genesis29:30 says “he loved Rachel more than Leah.”

!e Hebrew word chesed on the other handis best translated as loving-kindness. It assumes ahierarchy, where the one at the higher positiongives the chesed. !at’s why chesed is o%en used inthe sense of God’s kindness extended toward us.Chesed explains so much about Jesus loweringhimself to save us because he loved us. God’sboundless loving-kindness is so di"erent fromours. He loves because it’s his nature. !e goldenverse John 3: 16 says, “God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have everlasting life.”!is kind of love is agape, thehighest type of love. In our ownstrength we cannot love like Godloves, but when we are bornagain, and the Holy Spirit indwells our temples, we arecapable of loving by the #ow ofGod’s agape, covenant love.

What motivated God tosend his only begotten son tothis earth to die as an atonementfor our sins? Love, pure agapelove! !is love is universal because God loved each one ofus, and therefore all of us. Andwe are his children when we receive Him. 1 John 3:1 says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished onus, that we should be called children of God.” !eexciting news is that God loves everyone as muchas he possibly can! His love was demonstrated tothe world on the Cross, and the atoning Blood isenough to cover all of our sins. But the gi% ofGod’s love in Messiah must be received by faith!

!e Lord has been saving people from allnations for 2,000 years. And now he remembersand demonstrates his faithful chesed, his lovingkindness, to his covenant people, the Jews,by regathering them in their ancient homeland.His chesed is preparing them for the Second Coming of Jesus, when the Lord will rule fromJerusalem for a thousand years.

Does God still love the Jews? Oh, yes he

does, and the Apostle Paul makes that factvery clear in the New Testament. God has thepower to gra% again the Jewish branches intohis olive tree who were broken o" because ofunbelief. I’m not exasperated with Jewish people who don’t believe in Jesus. !e Bibleclearly teaches that God has legally blindedthe Jews in general on matters concerningYeshua, except for a remnant of Jewish believers who help to compose the “one newman” of Jew and Gentile in the Church Age.(Ephesians 2:15) However, the church DOESmake me angry and sorrowful for its blindnessto God’s ongoing plan for Israel! !e Bibleclearly teaches that in the Gentile age (which israpidly $nishing) God has not blinded the

church. So why are we obstinately blind to the factthat God is restoring Israel?It is our willful blindnessand obstinate jealousy ofGod’s irrevocable covenantwith Israel that makes theChurch without excuse!Many in the institutionalchurches who are not bornagain will be le% behind tosu"er God's wrath!

Jeremiah 31: 3 isGod’s and my personalValentine to Israel, “I haveloved you, my people, withan everlasting love. Withunfailing love I have drawn

you to myself.” I’d also like to send a valentineto the Jews saying, “God loves you uncondi-tionally and He’s waiting to be enquired of byyou concerning the identity of Yeshua” (Jesus’Hebrew name).

God has allowed the Jews to become astate again in their own land, and according tothe prophecies in Zechariah, he will pour outhis Spirit on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. !en the Lord’s feetwill stand once again on the Mt. of Olives, andhe will reign over Israel and all the nationsfrom Jerusalem. All of these prophecies provethe steadfast chesed love of the covenant-keeping God of Israel. Meanwhile, we in thechurches must fully comprehend that Israel is

still God’s chosen nation, that God loves the people of Israel with covenant love just as muchas he loves the Church. God chose and preparedthe nation of Israel to be the platform fromwhich his love would be demonstrated and madeavailable to the entire world at the Cross. Scripture explains this in Galatians 3:8-9, “!escripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessedthrough you.’ So those who have faith are blessedalong with Abraham, the man of faith.” Godpromised all nations would be blessed throughAbraham’s descendants. In the NewTestament, Jesus’ genealogy recordshis descent from Abraham and alsofrom King David. Jesus himself saidin John 4: 22 that salvation proceedsfrom the Jewish nation. What didJesus mean? He meant that Israel waschosen as the vehicle for the Savior tocome to us. So Israel is certainlyunique. !rough their most favorednative son Jesus, all nations are able to be savedwho will put their trust in Him.

Because God is God, he has the right tochoose whom he wants. And if we love Him, wedon’t question, or resent, his sovereign choices.Romans 8: 28 teaches that God is coordinatingeverything for good. So we must learn that Israelas a nation is still holy to God, even though rightnow Israel is suspended in unbelief ….abortionsare happening, corruptions, injustices. God’scovenant love will $x Israel’s sins. !ey mayhave broken covenant with him, but God willnever break covenant with them. Understand thetruth of Deuteronomy 7: 6- 8: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. !e LORDyour God has chosen you out of all the peoples onthe face of the earth to be his people, his treasuredpossession…..” So God’s plan long ago was tolove and bless the world through Israel. AlreadyHe has done so by sending the Jewish Saviour,and in the fullness of time Isaiah 27:6 is comingto pass: “Jacob will take root, Israel will bud andblossom and "ll all the world with fruit.”

Never forget that our Bible is a JewishBook, and our Savior is a Jewish Savior. Let usnot neglect to pray for the peace of Jerusalemand for the prosperity of God’s chosen people.

Although Israel is a secular nation, nevertheless“…at the present time there is a remnant [ofJews] chosen by grace.” (Romans 11:5) As anelect remnant, some Jews are always being savedand are continually becoming members of the“One New Man” in Messiah. St. Paul testi$ed inRomans 11 that for the sake of the patriarchs,the Jewish race are eternally beloved.

Another practical reason for believers toalign ourselves with the nation of Israel is because of the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis12: 2-3, “I will make you into a great nation andI will bless you…I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;and all peoples on earth will beblessed through you.” !is promiseof blessings and curses is repeatedin Genesis 27:29 and Numbers 24:9. So do you want to be blessed?Bless Israel. !is is what the Bibleteaches. And if you want to becursed, God forbid, curse Israel.

Presently Israel is increasing andBritain and the United States are decreasing.We prayed much about the decline of our nations in our New Year prayer convocation inJerusalem. One of our speakers outlined America’s past record of blessing individualJews and befriending Israel. !e United Sateshas committed many sins deserving judgment,but as a nation, the USA has been Israel’s mainbenefactor. In 1948, President Truman helpedpersuade the UN to recognize Israel. Since then,the USA has contributed billions of dollars inaid to Israel but her loyalty is sadly changing.

Britain started out well helping the Jewsto regain their homeland, but sadly Britain betrayed trust and is no longer Great Britain.!e facts speak for themselves. !roughout history nations have been judged severely because of negative dealings with God’s chosenpeople. !erefore it is self-bene$ting that weshould give support and pray for the ancientpeople of God! !is is not to say that we shouldcondone all of Israel’s dealings with her Arabneighbors. But the Bible did forewarn that enmity and con#ict would continue between thedescendants of Isaac and Ishmael until Jesus returns to reign from Jerusalem in peace.

I’m always trying to encourage believers

THE KADURI PROPHECIES: Many believers who study Bibleprophecy timeline are concerned that the prophecy of the late RabbiKaduri is setting up Israel to receive the anti-Christ. [Kaduri prophesiedthat after Sharon's passing Messiah will be revealed.] Rabbi Kaduri'sprophecy IS true in so much as Messiah WILL be revealed sooner or later.Anti-Christ is set to be revealed before Yeshua returns physically to reignon earth. Speaking of the Man of Sin, Yeshua said to Israel in John 5:43,"I have come in the Father's name and you have not received me. Anotherwill come in his own name, and him you will receive." But keep in mindthat Anti-Christ's deception, although deeply tragic, will be relativelyshort in duration, and many Israelis will NOT accept the anti-Messiah because of faithful warnings from Bible-believing evangelicals and forother reasons (such as Jewish aversion to receiving marks, as in Holocaust tattoos). In the meantime Kaduri's prophecy about the name of Messiahshould not be dismissed, although he prophesied only in part. Kadurideposited into the Israeli national consciousness that Messiah’s name isindeed Yeshua. Israel will remember his prophecy at the right time.

RESURRECTION SUNDAY on both Gregorian and Julian calendars

converge this year with Passover toproclaim the slain Lamb is risen

indeed! We are not going overboardwith predictions about the Blood

Moons, but the Lord did tell us to watchfor portents in the skies as well as in

the earth concerning his Second Coming.

We believe our 17th PassoverConvocation will be an awesome time to

convene in the City of God to pray aswatchmen for his eternal purposes. Our prophetic Passover seders are orchestrated by the Holy Spirit in

strategic places. Go to our website atexploits.tv or visit our travel agent

amitravel.com for details!

to see the bigger picture with a biblical, not apolitically correct, perspective. We certainly donot blindly salute everything Israel does, butwe de$nitely should stand up for Israel’s rightto exist! I can assure you, based upon thefaithfulness of the chesed love of a covenantkeeping God, that the Lord will ful$ll all of hispromises and covenants with Israel. So Godstill has a plan for Israel; he has not forgottenhis people. He is a wounded lover, and they are

wounded lovers, and both parties are surelyreuniting! You and I are the merciful matchmakers, for Paul said in Romans 11:31,“It is through your mercy that they shall obtain mercy.”

I adore being a part of this ancientlove story, don’t you? To be a minister ofreconciliation is a gi% of love and the highcalling of Exploits Ministry. !ank you forbeing a part of it with your support!

By Christine DargEven in the best of

families great tragedies can happen! Because of original sin,families are dysfunctional fromone degree to another, and none is immune from troubles. But Goddoes promise to guide and protectus as we honour his precepts.

In many parts of the world,rape is rarely reported, due to the extreme social stigma cast onwomen who have been raped, orthe fear of being disowned, orbeing subjected to so-called honorkillings. !e indi"erent, harsh orjudgmental attitudes of police in many countrieso#en discourage victims from reporting rape.

When Jacob returned to the PromisedLand with his wives and children, it was a singular tragedy that his only daughter Dinah was raped by a Canaanite prince at Shechem.Why did this great tragedy happen to the onlydaughter of Leah and Jacob? !e tragedy was exacerbated when Dinah’s brothers Simeon andLevi went on a murderous rampage of revengeunder the cover of deception.

God does bring good out of evil, and according to rabbinic literature, Dinah’s child asthe result of rape became Asenath, the wife ofJoseph in Egypt. It’s an apocryphal pedigree butnevertheless it’s interesting to contemplate thatAsenath was not just any pagan but could havebeen descended in part from patriarchal lineage.

Today blame is o#en put on the femalevictim for being raped. Christian commentators, including St. Jerome, assign some of the blameto Dinah. Genesis 34:1 states that she venturedout to visit the women of Shechem. If she wentout to visit only the females, as Scripture clearlystates, Dinah did not behave like a harlot.

Scholars postulate that the account of the

de$lement of Dinah waspurposefully included in theTorah teachings by Moses todemonstrate the potentialdanger of women venturinginto the public sphere (as opposed to remaining obscure and relatively safe athome).

Being at the right placeat the right time does bringrewards, and being at thewrong place no doubt can result in consequences.Could the rape tragedy be aconsequence of Jacob’s

failure (or delay) to go to Bethel to pay his vow?Many years previously, Jacob had vowed a vowto God at Bethel when %eeing from his brotherEsau a#er stealing the family birthright. (Genesis 28: 10-22) Now settling his clan inShechem was a diversion and a neglect of hisduty to God. One Bible commentary quotes theprinciple of Scripture by saying, “When we havevowed a vow to God, it is best not to defer thepayment of it.”

It was only a#er the debacle at Shechem[the rape of Dinah and the consequent barbarous slaughter of the local men by herbrothers], that Jacob rallied and came to hissenses. !e Lord also intervened by giving direction in a dream.

Greatly humbled by the entire incidentand its spiralling-out-of-control consequences,Jacob took command. He demanded that thefamily bury their foreign gods under a tree inShechem before moving on to Bethel, the placeof his vow. (Genesis 35: 2-5)

Referring to this incident, the great Bible commentator Matthew Henry noted:“God governs the world more by secret terrorson men’s minds than we are aware of.”

Why Was Jacob’s Only Daughter Raped?

Dinah watercolor circa 1896 by James Tissot

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