Freedom of Religion

Unlike many nations in the world, there is no 'separation of church and state' in Israel. In fact it's just the opposite. We were founded, as a nation, for "church" (synagogue in our case). Our 'religion'/beliefs are the foundation of our nation. The freedom of religion is a cornerstone of this tiny Jewish homeland.

Which makes the story I'm about to tell, all the more shameful.

Today I spent the day in Beer Sherva. That is the town that Abraham named, where Isaac lived, where Jacob went out from, where an angel fed Elijah after he fled from Jezebel. Today, sadly, it is known for something far less holy. It was the scene of a riot by extreme orthodox Jews inside a Messianic Jewish congregation.



Here is a description of what happened that day:

on Shabbat, 24 December, 2005, a violent demonstration took place at Kehilat "Nahalat Yeshua" in Beer Sheva, and the orthodox demonstrators even entered and took control of the congregational premises for a period of about 3 hours.

These orthodox Jews terrified the congregation, by storming in and taking over their building right in the middle of their Shabbat service. They vandalized the building, and even threw the pastor into the baptismal pool (mikve).

As a result of this violent demonstration:

8 February, 2007, a lawsuit was filed against Rabbi Yehuda Deri (the Chief Rabbi of Beer Sheva) and "Yad L'Achim (R.A.)" for their involvement in the above demonstration, which seriously violated the right to freedom of religion and freedom of religious expression and faith of the believers who gathered together at the congregation on that Shabbat.


After years of delays, finally tomorrow Rabbi Deri will take the stand, in the trial.

Today I attended an all day prayer and worship gathering at the congregation, to seek the LORD in anticipation of the trial. It was a beautiful day! Believers from, literally, all over Israel and all over the world came to show their support. There were people from Germany, Switzerland, America and everywhere in between, on hand to pray and to sing praises to God. The prayer gathering started at about noon and was scheduled to go until at least 7pm. I left after 5pm, and it showed no signs of slowing down. A constant stream of people continued to come, throughout the day. The Body of Yeshua was truly united today and it was a beautiful sight to see!

Throughout the day, the story of Paul the Apostle was really heavy on my heart. Specifically these passages describing Paul's arrest, beating and subsequent trail:

Acts 22:25: Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and hasn't even had a trial?

Acts 23:11 The following night, the LORD stood by him and said, "take courage! For just as you have borne a faithful witness to me in Yerushalayim, so now you must bear witness in Rome.

Acts 24:13-16 ...Nor can they give any proof of the things of which they are accusing me. But this I do admit to you; I worship the God of our fathers in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets. And I continue to have a hope in God-which they too accept-that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. Indeed it is because of this that I make a point of always having a clear conscience in the sight of both God and man.

Acts 26:6-8 How ironic it is that I stand on trial here because of my hope in the promise made to our fathers! It is the fulfillment of this very promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they resolutely carry on their acts of worship night and day; yet it is in conneciton with this hope, that I am being accused by Jews!

then I love in Acts 26:28 where Agrippa said to Paul, 'in this short time, you're trying to convince me to become a believer in Yeshua!'

and Paul replied, 'whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me...'


God kept reminding me that Paul was the greatest persecutor of the first believers in Yeshua. The first 'Messianic Jews'. And God ended up using Paul as the greatest emissary of His Good News, after blinding him on the road to Damascus and saving His soul.

Please pray for the persecuted Messianic Jews in Israel today. And please pray for Rabbi Deri and all those in the group Yad L'Achim who exist only to persecute Messianic believers. Please pray that God would raise them up to be the next Paul...turning their zeal for hatred of Yeshua into a zeal for sharing His word.


Thank you for reading.