{ May 2012 }

Standing on glass over a 1700 year old Church beneath a cafe

{ May 2012 }

There are three primary reasons why I consistently emphasize what Isaiah called “the controversy of Zion” (34:8 KJV) and oppose the idea that it is a peripheral and insignificant issue:

1. Jerusalem has been a point of intense contention and controversy throughout history

2. Jerusalem is a point of mounting contention and controversy in our generation

3. Jerusalem will be the greatest point of contention and controversy in the generation of the Lord’s return (Zech. 12:2-3, 9; 14:13; Mt. 24:15-31; 2 Thess. 2:1-10; etc)

Most Christians in the West are ignorant, apathetic, or indifferent towards the issue of Jerusalem because of rampant Biblical illiteracy, false teaching about Israel, and rabid cultural isolation. Without a global perspective infused with Biblical conviction they believe the world revolves around them and are oblivious to what’s happening on the other side of the globe.

The video above serves to burst our bubble of cultural isolationism and confirm what the Bible says about the “controversy of Zion” that is said to mount and culminate at the end of the age.

It was shot in Cairo and released Monday by Egypt’s Al-Nas TV. You’ll hear Muslim preacher Safwat Higazi telling thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters at a soccer stadium, “We can see how the dream of the Islamic caliphate is being realized, God willing, by Dr. Mohamed Mursi” (the movement’s presidential candidate), as Mursi and other Brotherhood officials nod in agreement.

“The capital of the caliphate – the capital of the United States of the Arabs – will be Jerusalem,” Higazi said, before leading the crowd in chants of “Millions of martyrs march toward Jerusalem.” Mursi responded, “Yes, Jerusalem is our goal. We shall pray in Jerusalem, or die as martyrs on its threshold.” 

If you write this off as fringe and irrelevant you’re no different than those who were indifferent towards the preaching of Hitler in the 1930′s. It is in our face. It’s clear. And it’s bold.

For more resources about these issues check out http://thecontroversyofzion.com as well as my book “The Controversy of Zion and the Time of Jacob’s Trouble”

]]> http://daltonthomas.org/2012/05/09/the-mounting-controversy-of-zion/feed/ 0 http://daltonthomas.org/2012/05/09/we-have-on-our-side-all-the-undiscovered-wealth-of-god-and-his-omnipotence/ http://daltonthomas.org/2012/05/09/we-have-on-our-side-all-the-undiscovered-wealth-of-god-and-his-omnipotence/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 13:49:48 +0000 daltonthomas http://daltonthomas.org/?p=2790 Samuel Zwemer (1867-1952), one of my greatest heroes, on the rigors of engaging the Islamic world with the Gospel:

Face to face with baffling problems in his own station, and conscious of the vast areas still unoccupied by missions and of the hundreds of millions untouched, the individual missionary may well grow discouraged, and let hope deferred make his heart sick. But the remedy for such discouragement is not to be found in a study of statistics. The things that are impossible by statistics are often possible by dynamics. Mere numbers are as nothing over against the power of Life. The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. In the struggle for supremacy between Islam and [the Gospel] in the Dark Continent, the statistics are all on the side of the Moslem, but the dynamics are with the Christian. To those who believe the promises of God, who know the living Christ and have caught the vision of world-wide redemption, there can be no discouragement. We have on our side all the undiscovered wealth of God and His omnipotence.

From his epic book, “A Call to Prayer for the Moslem World.” Get it on Amazon.

“On Christmas Eve 2011, two Muslim terrorists threw acid in the face of Ugandan Pastor Umar Mulinde. This video shares his amazing story of coming to faith, reaching other Muslims and how he ended up in Israel to receive medical treatment. Maoz Israel and our partners are paying for his hotel and meals, while he receives outpatient medical treatment in Tel Aviv. If you would like to help this dear man of God, you can go to www.MaozIsrael.org/Mulinde to make a contribution. Please pray for Pastor Umar, that he will know the next step for him and his family in their journey with Yeshua.”

An ex-Muslim from Africa being treated for wounds by Messianic Jews in Israel. Simply amazing.

“There is a strong tendency today towards propagating social theories which seem to us Christian, towards making the progress of the world our hope. Men see the truth in heathen religions, they see the virtues of heathen character and they urge that the end of Christian missionary work is not so much to convert individuals, not so much to establish the Church, as to leaven society and to help forward a movement towards a goal of glory to which heathen truth and Christian truth alike are tending. They see this as the end, and their imaginations are fired by the vision of a world led by many paths to the throne of God. . .The result is that they would make missionaries, preachers of social and political righteousness more than preachers of Christ.”

- Roland Allen, Missionary Principles (Grand Rapids: MI: Eerdmans, 1964), 95.

For those involved in pioneering, Church planting, or ministry in an established missions context I’d encourage you to get a copy. It’s a short, easy, and engaging read. It can be read in an hour or two.

“…let us face this thing openly and honestly. Are we following the Apostolic way, the more successful way, of extending the Church, or are we employing a method which experience has proved to many people to be a conspicuous failure?”

- Roland Allen (p. 32)

For information about the book (and a 30% discount) click here.

Until then, you can track with quotes, updates, and opportunities to score some free books over on the Facebook Page [Click Here]. If you want to help promote the book, “Like” the Page and share it on your Facebook wall.

Below is a sneak peak look inside the book. I’m grateful to Brian Kim (IHOP-KC, Luke 18 Project, ACTSchool) and David Sitton (To Every Tribe) for their contribution. 

Foreword by Brian Kim
Preface

Introduction: He Has Been Enough

1          Martyrdom as a Continuum
2          Martyrdom as Joy
3          Martyrdom as Love
4          Martyrdom as Grace
5          Martyrdom and Missions
6          Martyrdom and Islam
7          Martyrdom and Ministry
8          Martyrdom and the End
9          Martyrdom and Maturity           

Conclusion: Those of Whom the World is Not Worthy

Appendix I: “A Trumpet Call” by John G. Lake
Appendix II: “The Glory of the Impossible” by Samuel Zwemer
Appendix III: “Don’t Complicate the ‘Missionary Call’” by David Sitton

After leaving office, in a television interview, Harry Truman was asked who he thought was the American who made the greatest contribution of the last thirty years. Without hesitation, Truman said:

“I don’t think in this age in which I have lived, that there has been a man who has been a greater administrator; a man with a knowledge of military affairs equal to General Marshall.”

There are many reasons for such a legacy. What inspires me most is the fact that Marshall grew the US Army from 189,000 to 8 million in 3 years. That’s a 40-fold increase. Again, in 3 years.

Such an extraordinary feat would not have been possible without the overwhelming pressure of war-time urgency; urgency that the contemporary missions movement needs to grapple with and obtain in order to fulfill the purposes of God in this generation.

May such a resolute mentality, extravagant use of time and resources, and earnestness of conviction characterize a new generation of missional leaders whose mandate it is to “fight the good fight” among the hardest and darkest nations.

Pioneer missionary Samuel Zwemer spoke into the emerging Student Volunteer Missions Movement a century ago saying calling them to war-time abandonment. Such a call is needed in our day.

Great victory has never been possible without great sacrifice. If the winning of Port Arthur required human bullets, we cannot expect to carry the Port Arthurs and Gibraltars of the non-Christian world without loss of life.

Does it really matter how many die or how much money we spend in opening closed doors, and in occupying the different fields, if we really believe that missions are warfare and that the King’s Glory is at stake? War always means blood and treasure. Our only concern should be to keep the fight aggressive and to win victory regardless of cost or sacrifice. The unoccupied fields of the world must have their Calvary before they can have their Pentecost.

Raymond Lull, the first missionary to the Moslem world, expressed the same thought in medieval language when he wrote: “As a hungry man makes dispatch and takes large morsels on account of his great hunger, so Thy servant feels a great desire to die that he may glorify Thee. He hurries day and night to complete his work in order that he may give up his blood and his tears to be shed for Thee.”[1]