On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an historic attack against the Jewish nation. It became a line in the sand. For some, it prompted support for the Palestinian Authority. For others, it inspired prayers to bless the children of Abraham and the State of Israel. The question, “Who holds the deed to the Holy Land?” played everywhere in the media and continues to weigh on the hearts and minds of justice-seeking people around the world.

Tim Mahoney

It also begins Tim Mahoney’s latest documentary, Patterns of Evidence: The Israel Dilemma – Ancient Prophecies.

In the spirit of full transparency, I have enthusiastically followed Tim Mahoney’s work since his 2015 release of Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. I came to appreciate his thoughtful approach, captivating scenery, his willingness to hear and present opposing viewpoints, and ultimately, to share the logical conclusions of the evidence. I found those elements represented again in The Israel Dilemma.

A cast of historians, archeologists, politicians, and theologians examine God’s covenants as the “plot structure” to Israel’s biblical story. The Israel Dilemma – Ancient Prophecies quickly becomes less about who holds the deed and the remarkable, even miraculous way God spoke through Moses as a prophet and how the Almighty God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob keeps his promises.

While many of us are caught up watching the grand events: the blood red moons, the wars and rumors of wars, and the imminent sacrifice of the red heifers, The Israel Dilemma – Ancient Prophecies shares the testimonies of bullas, seemingly negligible clay seals no larger than your thumb, but which reveal significant—and who some might deem insignificant—characters of the Bible. But it is this minutia and the smallest of things which confirm how no one in Scripture, from the greatest to the least, is wasted in Yahweh’s economy.

Though we have the Bible as God’s authoritative Word, there are those in the secular world who do not recognize its credibility. Mahoney provides the evidence of its reliability not merely from internal scriptural sources, but unexpectedly from Israel’s ancient foes, with numerous archeological records that serve to reinforce the Bible, its Author, and His prophecies as trustworthy.

“We have an abundance of material which either directly or indirectly relates to the biblical evidence, no doubt,” remarks Gabriel Barkay, Director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, Bar-Ilan University, one of the many experts Mahoney interviews in the documentary.

Patterns of Evidence: The Israel Dilemma – Ancient Prophecies is the first in a two-part docu-series, and is in cinemas nationwide for a limited release, November 13, 14, and 17, 2024. Grab a Bible skeptic or someone confused by current Middle-east events and go see this two-hour, eye-opening film. Purchase tickets now at iconicreleasing.com/events/the-israel-dilemma/tickets.

You may have plenty to talk about afterward.

Reviewed by Kevin Williams

But we also have these emotional affections that can cloud our judgement. Such is the case with what we are witnessing in the Middle-east between Israel and Hamas. Since October 7, 2023, the world has watched in horror as people with very different worldviews swell a mounting death toll.

Lines are drawn, sides are taken, missiles launched, and passions fueled.

It can be no mistake that God is not yet done with the Jewish people. Their very existence, despite centuries of diaspora and persecution—only to miraculously return to their homeland after 2,000 years—is a shining example that God is alive, that he keeps his promises, that he is not yet done with the Jewish people, and that we are marching toward the soon return of our Messiah. Maranatha!

But what about the injustices we see daily? What about the Muslim Palestinians? What about the Christian Palestinians? What about? What about? These questions, normal as they are, point out the complexity of the political situation. They enrage and befuddle both the secular and spiritual mind.

However, focus on those questions alone and you may lose sight of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

So, what is God’s will in all of this? Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:16 that “we have Christ’s mind.” The Holy Spirit, Jesus admonishes, will guide us to truth (John 16:13). Therefore, if we can set our human sensitivities aside, we can figure out what God desires.

As born again, Bible-believing, Spirit-led Christians, our cause in this crisis remains the same: preach—and live—the good news of the kingdom of heaven. You may not politically favor Israel or Hamas—do not let the political distract you from the missional. You are still called only to preach the good news. That is what God needs from his disciples in the midst of war.

Is this war prophetic? Maybe—don’t let that distract you. Are there injustices? Certainly—don’t let that distract you. Are there corrupt politicians? Always—don’t let that distract you. Might God’s purposes in all of this be thwarted? Only if you allow yourself to be distracted.

“For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6).

Kevin Williams

Fires in Israel and the Gaza strip, October 7, 2023.
Image: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data, processed by Pierre Markuse \ Wikimedia Commons

Neil B. MacDonald (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is currently a lecturer in theology at the University of Surrey Roehampton in London. Academic specialization can lead to a lack of communication among closely related disciplines, with theology and biblical studies being a case in point. MacDonald attempts to bridge these two disciplines with help from analytic philosophy. So then, this volume is an attempt by a non-evangelical to overcome the barriers between biblical studies, philosophy and systematic theology.

Within this volume, MacDonald covers a broad range of theologians and philosophers, including Aristotle, Anselm, Augustine, and N. T. Wright, though he approaches theology from a broadly Barthian perspective. MacDonald seeks to bridge systematic theology of the Old Testament with systematic theology of the New Testament, and he does so by illustrating the God of Israel as essentially a judging, yet desisting, and forbearing entity. This judging, yet desisting, and forbearing God reveals himself in creation, in the Exodus, in primeval history, in Deuteronomistic history, and ultimately within the Gospel narrative.

MacDonald insists that thinking about God in terms of divine identity is more profitable for a comprehensive systematic theology than is thinking about God in terms of the patristic concept of ousia (i.e., substance). MacDonald believes that it is only by understanding the Old and New Testaments in terms of the identity of the God of Israel – and the historical man Jesus of Nazareth – that systematic theology can be done. Thus, MacDonald argues that the heart of systematic theology is a God who is self-determining. In so arguing, MacDonald asserts that God creates whatever is necessary for the existence of events other than himself. In this way of thinking, God created time and space by determining himself to be the creator time and space. Therefore, MacDonald argues that God creates out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). In so arguing, MacDonald suggests that God’s self-determining self is a sufficient cause (read that very slowly…). This idea will likely find many supporters within the readership of The Pneuma Review.

However, MacDonald does posit some ideas that may conflict with the readers of The Pneuma Review. For example, he strongly asserts that every sub-discipline within the biological sciences – genetics, molecular biology, immunology, general medicine, and so on – cannot function either theoretically or experimentally without the theory of genetical evolution via natural selection (better known as Neo-Darwinism). Moreover, MacDonald intimates that humanity is imago dei (i.e., in the image of God) only by happenstance, as any relational creature could have been such – if decreed by God – no matter what their natural properties may have turned out to be. In so defining the image of God, MacDonald disregards centuries of scholars and laypeople alike who have thought of the imago dei as consisting of some type of rationality or righteousness.

All in all, MacDonald does a good job of drawing the salvation work of God together in both testaments and firmly integrates Christian salvation history with Jewish scriptural traditions, though he fails to overcome the classic problems of natural theology by inadequately defining the somewhat vague and ambiguous term “determines.” However, MacDonald is not convincing in arguing that God possesses both time and space, nor that the classical view of God as outside of space and time represents a limit upon his freedom.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Originally published on the Pneuma Foundation (parent organization of PneumaReview.com) website on May 23, 2008.

Ask any number of Christians today, “Are you anti-Semitic?” and you will receive a resounding “no!” in response. Many churches and denominations embrace Israel and its place in these end days. In an age when biblical prophecy comes to pass almost daily, it is difficult to ignore the role of Israel and the Jewish community in end time events. Most believers today will tell you that they love the Jews and are, for the most part, pro-Israel.

This is well and good. Truly, we can see that God has many things yet to accomplish through the Jewish people.

However, the Spirit of the Lord is moving on many Christians, prompting them to repent of the sin of anti-Semitism. With a confessed pro-Israeli doctrine, this leaves many believers mystified, scratching their heads wondering, “Okay Lord, how?”

The general modus operendi is to look at current events. What have we committed or omitted that would prompt the Holy Spirit to reveal such a word of knowledge? Many look for clues in their government’s role during the World War II era, and its blind eye toward the plight of Europe’s Jewry. The Holocaust was a tragedy that goes beyond any tongue’s ability to describe. We watch death camp films and wonder if this is from what God wants us to repent. Certainly, if believers turned their heads and looked the other way, there is culpability and repentance is in order.

I believe there is more to it than governmental actions during the reign of the Third Reich. The “church”—as secular as it may have been over the centuries—has a long history of persecuting God’s Chosen People. Hundreds of years and millions of Jewish lives have been squandered in the name of “Christ.”

That was then, and this is now. It is my opinion that God is calling us to examine our churches and congregations. Is anti-Semitism in the camp? At first glance it is easy to say, “no.” But I think that if we scratch below the surface a little, we’ll find that all we have been applying is a secular standard to the question. Do we believe in the extermination of Jews? No. Do we agree with the Nazi “final solution?” No. In the post holocaust years, do we acknowledge that the Jews should have a Jewish homeland? Yes. Do we acknowledge that the Jews have been unfairly persecuted over the centuries and that this practice must not be allowed to darken our doors again—even in the smallest degree? Yes.

If these are our only definition of anti-Semitism, then we agree wholeheartedly with the United Nations and the Anti-defamation League.

What Definition Does God Use?

Does the Bible use a secular standard to measure godly principles? It does not. Though a good beginning, we cannot limit our definition of anti-Semitism to the world’s standard. If we do, we can only hope to create a surface, feel-good penitence that might make people feel like they are doing something, but will it accomplish true repentance? Will it accomplish all that God is looking for?

It seems that if we wish to be true to the Spirit’s calling, to be obedient to the call of the Most High God “to repent of anti-Semitism,” then our desire will be to willingly place ourselves on the examination table. Exploratory surgery is unpleasant, but is often the only way to get at the heart of some cancers.

Before we lay down on the table, however, we might do well to try and figure out who stands to gain if the body of Messiah is anti-Semitic, even in what may seem like insignificant matters.

Robert Kimball Shinkoskey, Do My Prophets No Harm: Revelation and Religious Liberty in the Bible (Eugene, Oregon: Resource Publications, 2011), 206 pages, ISBN 9781608998456.

Robert Shinkoskey has two main proposals in Do My Prophets No Harm. The first proposal is that the Ten Commandments provide ancient Israel’s constitutional government. In theory, the Ten Commandments are “purely secular law, rather than a mixture of cultic and civic law” (p. 81). The first five commandments serve two purposes: the preservation of “freedom of religion for prophets and other dissidents who work to restore worship of the God of their ancestors” (back cover summary); and an adversarial purpose: to stand separate from the civic government. The role of the prophet is to call into question any policy or personal power that negates or abuses the last five of the commandments.

Shinkoskey’s second proposal is to challenge the notion of the cessation of prophecy. God always reveals Himself to those who are sensitive to Him, namely the prophets. This is necessary in order to preserve not only the first five commandments but also the second five. The prophets urge Israel to repent and return to their calling. Israel’s call is to honor and keep the second five commandments and to be a light to the nations: how to treat one’s neighbor in love and mercy and the stranger or alien among them.

This reviewer finds Shinkoskey’s analysis intriguing. He seems to suggest that the observance of the second five of the Decalogue promotes the worship of the God of the Exodus, the one who brought them out from slavery to Egypt. New revelation from God restores the people of Israel to their calling to be light to the nations. The prophets are those receptive to that revelation and must prophesy; hence, “Do my prophets no harm.” It is Shinkoskey’s contention that when a government exceeds its bounds whatever its form, monarchy, democratic republic, theocratic, those in governance seek to silence the prophets. It also occurs when complacency or satisfaction occurs in a nation. This is where religious liberty is threatened.

Calvin L. Smith, ed., The Jews, Modern Israel and the New Supercessionism: Resources for Christians (King’s Divinity Press), 164 pages, ISBN 9780956200600.

Finally—a single book that treats Replacement Theology, Israel, and the Jewish people with respect, reason, and biblical integrity. Over many years working with Christians I have encountered too many who will ardently profess that they are not anti-Semitic, yet continue to hold to the premise that the universal Church supplants biblical Israel. Consider for a moment how that must make the average Jewish man or woman feel to be told that God is done with them, that their role in God’s plan has ceased, that the blessings in the Bible proclaimed for Israel have been transferred to the church, and you begin to realize how thoroughly anti-Semitic this theology is.

The Jews, Modern Israel and the New Supercessionism (American spelling: Supersessionism) takes a multi-faceted approach to Replacement Theology to help set the record straight. Editor Calvin L. Smith has collected works from a number of scholars, all of which were submitted for a weekend conference at the King’s Evangelical Divinity School in England. As Smith writes, “A series of papers were presented which, while academic in nature, were designed to be accessible to everyday Christians.”

That goal was achieved. In chapters such as “Who is the ‘Israel’ of Romans 11:26?,” “Apostolic Jewish-Christian Hermeneutics,” and “Israel and the Purposes of God”—to name a few—readers are given a well-rounded background in how Protestants derived their supersessionistic doctrines. These doctrines are then graciously dissected, discussed, and debunked.

The second edition (2013) cover of the New Revised and Expanded Edition.

There is a great deal of common sense as well. In Smith’s contributions in chapters two and seven: obvious, and not-so-obvious facts about the nation of Israel are brought to light, giving the reader new concepts to consider. He also handles “multiple fulfillments of prophecy” nicely, helping readers understand that prophecy does not have to be locked into an either this/or that dimension.

I was grateful for Andy Cheung’s chapter on “Who is the ‘Israel’ of Romans 11:26?” His examination of how Paul uses the word “Israel” to help us grasp the underpinnings of this epistle is well presented. I do, however, wish some time had been given in the book to verse 11:25 as well with a presentation on the implications of, “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”

Pastor Jack Hayford, President of the Foursquare Gospel Church purchased a special run of this book and mailed a copy of this book to every minister in his denomination. Hayford has traveled to Israel many times in the past 40 years and has known Don Finto for more than 30 years.

Finto spent 25 years as pastor of Belmont Church in Nashville. Now in his mid-seventies he is active with the growing community of Jewish believers in Jesus. This interest which began 40 years ago has taken Don to Israel often; and the insights and experiences that he gathered over these years give him unusual insight to the move of God in the mid-east and across the world.

Finto divided his book into two main sections. The first reviews the tremendous growth in the Christian church over the last half century across the world. No other period of history has experienced this sort of Christian expansion. Finto discusses his opinions of what the conversion of several hundred thousand Jews to faith in Jesus portends for the world in general and for the country of Israel. He writes that 40 years ago there was not a single congregation established to foster the continuing Jewish identity of Jews who believe in Jesus. Today there are 400 or more congregations throughout the United States, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Israel and other countries.

Moreover, these congregations are not covert. They do not have to be silent and are featured in Jewish newspapers and on national television. The congregations include people from all ranks of the community. 7,000 of these live in Israel, all over the land and in every walk of life.

Finto continues with reviews of the growing church in Africa, the effects of 25,000 new believers a day in Latin America, Africa and China. That is 75,000 believers a day. 60 million Nigerians profess faith in Christ; and other African countries besides Nigeria are experiencing significant growth in believers. We read of success and persecutions, victory and defeat but a church growing in ways that have not been seen in the 20 centuries of its existence.

South Korea has 60,000 churches and 40 percent of its population are professing Christians; South Vietnam has seen 800,000 conversions in the last 25 years. 150,000 Muslims have come to Christ. Finto describes corporate and individual conversions.

I found his review of the growth of the Kingdom fascinating. We are so assailed with negative criticism of the church and Christianity from many quarters that it is good to remember that we are a triumphant church and that this triumph is being acted out in vast numbers across the earth.

The second part of the book has an eschatological bent. Finto tells the reader of his personal interpretations of various prophetic texts and how and when they are and will be fulfilled.

I am glad that I was one of the Foursquare pastors that received a copy of this book. It is an interesting and lively read that will add to your understanding of what is really happening across the earth and challenge your thinking on what is yet to come.

Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns

Publisher’s Page (As of May 2019, this title in print by Chosen Books): http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/god-s-promise-and-the-future-of-israel/358911

Israel’s Divine Healer. Michael Brown. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. Pp. 462.

For those who believe that God miraculously heals today, this book is a decisive argument in their favor. I am not aware of any other book that so thoroughly offers a theological and exegetical foundation for divine healing, especially from the Hebrew Scriptures and the perspective of Messianic fulfillment in the New Testament.

Part of the Studies in Old Testament Biblical Theology series edited by William VanGemeren and Tremper Longman III, the author of this work has come to be well known to many classical Pentecostals in recent years. Dr. Michael Brown finished this book before his tenure as the Messianic Jewish scholar of the “Brownsville Revival” in Pensacola, Florida.

Brown begins with a detailed word study of various roots associated with “healing” in the Hebrew Scriptures. Even those unfamiliar with Hebrew will see quickly the holistic understanding of “healing” in the Jewish mind. Just as salvation is not mere fire insurance, healing—as understood in Hebrew—includes all aspects of restoration to “full” life.

Next, Brown looks at human physicians and ancient healing deities to establish the similarities and distinction between Israel and its ancient neighbors. He notes that minor injuries (cuts, fractures) were taken care of by natural means while internal and serious conditions (fevers, severe pain) were always seen as an attack from something outside of man. Brown uses numerous examples to demonstrate that it was “normal” to have physicians in ancient times that set bones and treated wounds, and (at least in Israel) without necessarily invoking magic or the supernatural. One point of interest in this chapter is the debunking of 2 Chron. 16:12 as a general critique of physicians and modern medical practice. Brown argues that the context of Asa’s reign and early major victory demands that Asa languished in his disease of the feet not because he made inquiry (Brown says that the word for the “inquiry” Asa made always has a spiritual connotation—this was more a visit to a witchdoctor than a family practitioner) of physicians but because he relied on the arm of flesh and not God. Godless trust in man was Asa’s sin, not trust in doctors. Brown says “To the ancient and Near Eastern—and biblical!—mind, it was impossible to countenance a major god/God who did not heal” (p. 53, emphasis his). Even the Greeks combined doctor and savior as complimentary (p. 59). There are also numerous explanations of rabbinic thought, as diverse as it was, on the subjects of healing and physicians.

Forward:  As a preparatory note, at times I will mention an “Israeli believer.” The distinction is, these are Jewish believers in Messiah Jesus who are also citizens of national Israel. The political situation in the Holy Land is one that, being recognized as a believer in Jesus can mean losing your job, your home, suffering very real persecution, potentially losing your citizenship, and being exiled from your own promised inheritance. So, while I would like to give credit where credit is due, some of the teachers quoted in this text may have to remain anonymous so their identities are protected. I am however, eternally grateful to have been able to learn from these men of God and to be able to pass this information on to Christian brethren everywhere. 

—Kevin Williams

While this is a study on the book of Matthew, it seems prudent to begin in a different gospel account. Jesus said a great deal about himself during his life here on earth. For instance, in Luke 24:44 we read, “Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’” We find a similar statement in Luke 24:27, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [Jesus] expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

By the master’s inference, we should be able to go into every page of the Hebrew Scriptures and find evidence of Jesus the Messiah. It is possible, and a worthy effort.

The same is true in the gospels. An obvious statement? Certainly. But the intrinsic Jewishness of Jesus, his message to his people, Israel, and the clues to the nation of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are locked in the gospel of Matthew is such a way that it is easily overlooked in a predominately non-Jewish Christian culture.

And so, we being our study of the Gospel According to Saint Matthew not quoting Matthew, but quoting from the Gospel According to Saint John. Remarkably enough it was during one of the national festivals not commanded in the Bible that Jesus affirms that he has already told us he is the Messiah.

At that time the Feast of the Dedication (Hanukkah) took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews therefore gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe;” (John 10:22-25).

Yet, as we read through the pages of Matthew, Jesus never comes out and plainly states, “I am the promised Messiah.”

In this study, we shall examine the Messiahship of Jesus, along with many other aspects of this Redeemer and Savior. As we journey down this path, we may find new and wondrous discoveries about Jesus we had not considered before. We may also find out some things, which challenge our traditions and historical way of thinking. If you have any die-hard traditions and interpretations, be forewarned—you may end up placing these sacred cows on the altar! May you do so with a willing heart.

___

In 1997, At the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wayne, Ohio, an Israeli believer asked the congregation, “Who can tell me the first verse of the Old Testament?” Naturally, everyone chimed in; “In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.”