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Conference report and a look into the future

The conference last weekend gathered about 200 people for fellowship and teaching. Most of the sessions were also livestreamed. A few were not, however, upon request of the speakers, and, of course, we honor their requests.

The livestream pushed the limits of the hotel’s limited abilities, but all in all, it was a success.

For those who missed the livestream, we will be posting the sessions on YouTube shortly.

After four years of having no conferences, everyone looked forward to seeing old friends, as well as meeting new ones. Most of the hotel staff were strong believers, and they joined in with us when they could.

I think the only problem was that I had scheduled two-hour meal breaks. I should have scheduled an extra half hour, mostly because it took a little more time for the people to go out to eat. I will remember that for the next conference. We are already discussing the possibility of having a Passover conference in 2024, but we have no plans as of now. I will let you know if we are able to do so.

Rushing Rapidly Toward the Climax

Why did we host the conference in Rapid City, which is near Mount Rushmore? Well, we did not plan it specifically, but I believe now that it is because the Kingdom is rapidly coming, and events are rushing toward a climax of the ages.

It seems that the situation in Gaza is signaling the start of this. We will have to see how this may either spiral upward or calm down through international pressure. Most nations object to the Israeli ethnic cleansing that they are threatening, though many Christians have supported such a policy since 1948. The Christian view of prophecy is based on Old Covenant principles, using the model of Joshua after the Jordan crossing. They seem to have no clue how the New Covenant works, nor do they even care.

In this, it seems that non-Christians are more righteous than the Christians. Non-Christians may be ignorant of the New Covenant, but they are more apt to understand and agree with its terms and its methods than Christians who give lip service to it. The church as a whole lost sight of the New Covenant many centuries ago, and this is what spawned colonialism in recent centuries. So-called “Christian” conquered land and enslaved or eliminated whole populations, following the model of Joshua’s Old Covenant conquest of Canaan.

While many Christians now decry such things, saying, “If we had been there, we would not have done so,” the fact is that they now support Old Covenant Israeli policy. Their belief system has given rise to something called Dual Covenant Theology, which teaches that non-Jews are saved by faith through the New Covenant, and Jews are saved by works through the Old Covenant. My response: What would Paul think of this? Was Paul, the Benjaminite, saved by works?

We ourselves have read and studied the epistle to the Hebrews, which presents “better” promises through a “better” covenant. But it seems that many Christians are unable to immigrate from the Old Covenant to the New. A Hebrew is literally an immigrant. That is why the epistle is not the book of Jews or the book of Israelites, but rather the book of Hebrews. We read in Hebrews 8:13, “When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.” The Old Covenant is obsolete, and no Christian should live by its methods. In other words, the law must be applied as Jesus would apply it, because He is the Mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15). To continue in the Old Covenant is to reject Jesus Christ and His work.

The Festering Problem

In the case of Gaza, this “unprovoked attack,” as many call it, did not begin last week. It is a 75-year-old problem, brought about when the Zionists drove these Palestinians out of their towns and villages into the largest open-air prison in the world (Gaza). It was a refugee camp from which they were unable to escape. The Israelis would have liked to exterminate them or drive them out of the country at that time, but international pressure stopped them. After all, Palestinians have a right to live, too.

Out of this arose the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headed by Yassir Arafat in the 1960’s. The Israelis wanted to dilute its power and divide the people, so they backed another faction, which in 1987 morphed into Hamas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/07/30/how-israel-helped-create-hamas/

I suspect that the Israeli Mossad has always been in control of Hamas through financing and through spies and informants. Hence, it is inconceivable that the recent Hamas attack took them by surprise. If Israeli intelligence had been taken by surprise, it would have been the first in history. Even the 1973 Yom Kippur War was not a surprise, though they claimed it was.

In my view, someone decided that it was time for the Israelis to eliminate the Palestinians in Gaza and to take over that land to give to Israeli settlers. So they instigated an attack by Hamas, sacrificing many innocent Jews for the “greater good” of the nation (as they see it). And then they pretended that they were taken by surprise. But only the people on the ground, who had put their trust in the government to protect them, were actually taken by surprise.

The Israeli government now finds itself at odds with the international community. More important, they are at odds with the international banking community, which believes that this situation has the potential to destroy the already fragile banking system. We know that God is using all of this to accomplish His plan, but on our level, we should be concerned with His will (thelema) and let God handle His own plan (boulema).

Zionism itself is a political philosophy that is unlawful according to biblical law as applied by the New Covenant. It runs contrary to the character of Jesus and the New Covenant. It is a festering sore on the church that needs to be corrected—as much as with American Zionism and its multiple broken treaties which displaced the Native Americans in the 1800’s.

Yet we are now coming rapidly into the year 2024, at which time we expect to see the climax of the age, and the beginning of the redemption of the nations. There is a direct correlation (by time cycles) between Joshua’s judgment upon Canaan and Yeshua’s judgment upon the modern nations. Canaan was a type and shadow of the nations as a whole. Just as the Canaanites occupied and exercised authority over the Promised Land in Joshua’s day, so also have the ungodly nations exercised authority in our time.

Our Inheritance

The situation will have to change—and it will—but not by using an Old Covenant sword. There will always be a few (at the top) who will be judged by the sword, because they will be judged according to their own standard of measure. But the nations as a whole are God’s inheritance. He has no intention of destroying His own inheritance. We are co-heirs with Him, so the nations are also our inheritance. Psalm 2:8 says,

⁸ Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

I can tell you emphatically that we have already asked God to give us our inheritance, and we are confident that this is our Promised Land. We have no intention of destroying or oppressing the nations. Our intent is to enlighten them with the word of God and to introduce them to our benevolent king, His Majesty King Jesus. He rules by the power of the New Covenant, which is based on love, not power per se. And we—His people—have adopted His nature and the laws of the Kingdom that will set the world free from its debt-bondage.

Most of the world has a false impression of HM King Jesus, because they have observed too many Old Covenant Christians who claim to represent Him and His nature. But when they finally see who Jesus is through the manifestation of the sons of God, then will be fulfilled the words in Revelation 15:3, 4,

³ … “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are Your way, King of the nations! ⁴ Who will not fear [respect with awe], O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; for all the nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have [finally] been revealed.”

In other words, the nations will worship Him because His righteous acts have been revealed. They will not have to be forced to worship Him. They will do so gladly. When they see Him for who He is, who wouldn’t worship Him? The nations just want peace and prosperity, but they don’t know how to achieve it. All of their efforts ultimately fail, as we see even today. We have the answer, and God is giving us the authority and the means to redeem the debt of the world.

In other words, what Jesus did on the cross is now ready to be implemented in the earth. His death and resurrection established the fact that all nations will be saved; it was only a matter of timing before we would see this fully accomplished. This will fulfill Psalm 66:1-4,

¹ Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; ² Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious. ³ Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power, Your enemies will give feigned obedience to you. ⁴ All the earth will worship You, and will sing praises to You; they will sing praises to Your name.”

The nations will give praise to God, not because they are forced to do so, but because they will see “how awesome” are His works. Those who remain His enemies “will give feigned obedience” to Him until such time that they too are won by His love and His works. But in the end, “all the earth” will worship Him. The Apostle Paul references this in 1 Corinthians 15:25-27,

²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be abolished is death. ²⁷ For He has put all things in subjection under His feet [Psalm 8:6]…

Immortality is the ultimate goal and reward of the Kingdom that is coming. He will subdue His enemies by turning them into friends. He will turn them into friends by showing them who He really is and by demonstrating His character by His marvelous works.