27 September, 2015
After 25hrs of flying etc they said it was already 6am, go
straight into today's schedule w/o bathing or going to hotel!!! Saw quite a few
movies during the flight: Insurgent, Terminator Genisys, Batman: The Dark
Knight, Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. These movies got me thinking quite a bit
because they’re all somehow related to bondage, breakthrough, and hope. The
theme of the ICEJ Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is on Reformation this year. On
landing it was exciting to meet the rest of the members of marching prayer team
I was assigned to, Team G (the Good God team): lovely, lively and devout
people. And because it’s the Feast of Tabernacles, there were lots of tents
everywhere. It’s also interesting to see the city divided into different
regions, eg. Jewish areas, Arabian areas, American areas etc.
The first stop was the Western/Wailing Wall. It's really
amazing how Jerusalem is full of God's presence... It is a lot easier to get
into the spiritual state where one feels very close to God. I am quite serious
when I say I don’t cry easily, but as soon as I touch my hand on the Western
Wall to pray, I felt like crying!
The Tower of David at the Jaffa gate had a gigantic white
wedding dress on display. I’ve got no idea why they’ve got that on display but
nevertheless, it reminded me of “the church as the bride of Christ”. In the
afternoon we walked around the old city and then made a thanksgiving offering
at the City of David.
28 September, 2015
This is the first time I’ve seen the blood moon. The whole
process reminded me of how Jesus came on the cross. At 4am on 28 Sept in
Jerusalem, the moon was so beautiful: super white, shiny and round! It reminded
me of Jesus, who is perfectly pure and sinless. Then, a black spot appeared on
the top of the moon, like a dog-bitten mark. Gradually, the black spot eroded
down the whole moon, which reminded me of the moment when Jesus had to carry
the sins of the whole humanity: “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:34). Then, at
5am, the whole moon became black, then a blood red tinge appeared, which
reminds me of what the blood of Jesus has accomplished: Jesus said, “It is
finished.” (John 19:30)!
I wanted to see how the moon will turn white again… but dawn
breaks in instead! Jesus died and rose again! Hallelujah!
The first stop of the Stations of the Cross
was the Pilate’s Court, where Jesus was condemned to death. At that time I
thought the ICEJ group was just having worship, prayer and Holy Communion in an
ancient underground church. The prayer was so powerful that I was shocked to
see a flooded pool of tears on the floor beneath me: I think the cumulative
total of tears shed in my whole lifetime so far was not even as much as this
one off flooding!
The Temple Mount has been closed lately
because it has not been peaceful, so we couldn’t go up there. And because the
Arabians couldn’t get up the Mount, they sent their women to cry and protest,
because they know the Israeli police will not touch these women. The ICEJ group
was just at the Bethesda pools (the place where Jesus made the lame person
walk) when we witnessed the police throwing smelly and smoky expulsion bombs at
these women: two loud bangs, lots of smoke, and the women ran around
everywhere. Initially we didn’t even know what was happening and just squeezed
ourselves into the Bethesda pools ASAP. Subsequently we were told that many of
these women were in fact actresses, and this is a show put on for the media to
make it look like the Israeli police is bullying them. Amazingly, all the
merchants on the road disappeared so there was no temptation to shop as we
walked through the Stations.
Stations of the Cross:
1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus carries his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets his mother
5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the
cross
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of his garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the
cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross
(Deposition or Lamentation)
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.
In the afternoon we visited the Cenacle (a
room in Jerusalem traditionally held to be the site of The Last Supper as well
as the place of descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on the day of
Pentecost) and Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu (the place where Peter
denied Jesus three times). Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu was really tiny
and narrow. One sister in team G said she gets claustrophobic there.... maybe
Peter had a panic attack and ran away after being squeezed by so many people
(just a little personal thought, nothing theological)! The Church of Saint
Peter in Gallicantu is a Roman Catholic church located on the eastern slope of
Mount Zion, just outside the Old (walled) City of Jerusalem. On the north side
of the church is an ancient staircase that leads down towards the Kidron
Valley. This may have been a passage from the upper city to the lower city
during the first temple period. Many Christians believe that Jesus followed
this path down to Gethsemane the night of his arrest.
29 September, 2015
We attended the ICEJ meeting in the morning. Below is a link
to the notes I made.
We went to the Yad Vashem (Holocaust memorial museum) and
saw the Children's Memorial and the Hall of Remembrance, which had an extremely
sad atmosphere. In the evening ICEJ meeting, Israeli Present Reuven Rivlin gave
an opening speech.
30 September, 2015
We attended the ICEJ meeting in the morning. Below is a link
to the notes I made.
In the afternoon we went to the Garden Tomb/Golgotha (where
Jesus was buried and resurrected) and made a self-offering. ICEJ Taiwan also
officially signed the legal documents to set up the “Chinese All Nations
Worship Foundation Jerusalem”. Then the members of Team G decided to take the
light rail to go to the city centre to experience the lifestyle of the locals.
When we got onto the light rail, it did not move for more than ten minutes
because there was suspicion of a bomb ahead. So they cannot move unless the
police had made sure there was no bomb. We then prayed and the vehicle began to
move. We got to see the Jews close up: their clothes are interesting, and they
usually have six children and are therefore really procreative! We ate some
local food/drinks such as Pomegranate Juice, and saw bees flying on top of
honey breads! This is really a land flowing with milk and honey!
1 October, 2015
We attended the ICEJ meeting in the morning. Below is a link
to the notes I made.
In the afternoon thousands of Christian Pilgrims from many
different nations took part in the Jerusalem March. In this joyful three our
march, we handed out flags and little gifts to the Israeli children. Our slogan
was Taiwan Loves Israel (x3) + shofar blowing (x3)!
http://int.icej.org/news/special-reports/thousands-christian-pilgrims-take-part-jerusalem-march
There is a critical need to shift
attitudinally form seeing mission as “doing something” to mission as
discipleship formation. This discipleship framework considers all involved in
the mission activity of God in the world as sisters and brothers in Christ. It
demands a willingness to move toward mutual partnership models in which all
partners learn from each other. If agencies and organisations working in the
same areas simply “do their own thing” without talking to each other, there
will be potential for duplication of resources and unhealthy competition for
loyalty. When we reduce mission to what we can accomplish, we can miss the call
of God on each of our lives, the call to become his disciples.[1]
While much has been written about the professionalization of mission, “good” mission
emerges out of genuine and authentic living. Better techniques, strategies, and
practices will never replace humble human living. The witness of the church is
always strongest when authenticity and powerlessness are its characteristics,
when people live in the tension of faith and doubt but still act on what they
believe. In Matthew 28:18-20, we are told that we will not be alone in our
being sent by God, as God will be with and will empower the activity. Missional
discipleship is a faith internalised and formed so that, while we fling
ourselves into the world to make a difference, the difference is made by the One
who sent us.[2] It
takes great faith to be a disciple, because it is only the presence of Christ
that will make obedience possible. Disciples cross cultural boundaries. We are
to make disciples of all “nations”. “Nations” means cultural peoples or ethnic
groups that are distinct and different. This means, the good news of the Gospel
will transcend ethnic barriers and be translatable in a variety of ways
culturally. The Gospel will be able to speak to all cultures because of its unlimited
translatability. It will shape the church’s mission within the culture in which
it is located.[3]
2 October, 2015
The itinerary was to go on Mount of Olives to visit Dominus
Flevit (where Jesus cried, in Luke 19) and Gethsemane in the morning. The
afternoon itinerary was to enter into Palestine to Bethlehem (meaning “House of
Bread”) to visit Church of the Nativity (where Jesus was born) and the Shepherds
Field (where the angels announced Jesus’ birth).
We received several bad news in the morning. 1) There is
another shooting in the US, and the gunman targeted Christians. 2) A Jewish
family was attacked by Palestinians terrorists, who shot the couple dead in
front of their four children.
3) There was an incident of people attacking tourists on
Mount of Olives so they might close it down.
It was quite obvious that the sites of these incidents were
the sites on the itinerary. The marching prayer team prayed on the coach before
going off and we entered into the Mount of Olives successfully and had a great
worship and intimate time with God there. In the afternoon, something quite
amazing happened during worship at the Shepherds Field: in the beginning of the
worship when we played the song “Give Thanks”, a Caucasian man ran over to us
and said Henry Smith, the writer of this song, was also visiting the Shepherds
Field at that moment!
3 October, 2015
In the morning we prayed at the Mount Zion Prayer Centre to
make a rain offering, where we prayed for revival in the New Year. During the
prayer, the pastors wanted us to reflect on whether our faith is based on
tradition or inheritance, and to pray that faith is an inheritance instead of a
tradition in the family. Pastor Yun received a puzzling revelation a few years
ago: “Taiwan’s revival will begin from the Baptist churches”. In the 2015 ICEJ
Taiwan team, we got several Baptist pastors with us. The Baptist pastors told
us that in Taiwan’s K-12 school curriculum, there is a subject called “the
study of life”. All the teachers of this subject are Buddhists. The Baptist
church is in the process of applying for the qualification to teach this
subject. A Messianic Jew Pastor shared with us that God is opening the eastern
gates of Jerusalem. Paul took the gospel to Europe. Then it came to America,
then Asia, and will go back to Jerusalem in the end. Jesus will come in through
the eastern gate (Ezekiel 43-44)! He told us that we are the first fruits of
the fulfilment of this prophecy.
At noon, we left Jerusalem and went past Anathoth, the home
town of Jeremiah. Grey smoke was rising from that town and we didn’t know why.
Then we entered Jericho, which is in Palestinian grounds. Apparently, Jericho
is the oldest city in the world. We saw the Mount of Temptations, which was
where Satan attempted to tempt Jesus. Jericho has a lot of date trees which
produce yummy dates. Then we went to Qumran (where the Dead Sea scrolls were
found), then soaked ourselves in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is amazing: as soon
as we got into the water, our skin felt velvety smooth, and we could use the
sand to exfoliate our skin. There is so much salt that people spontaneously
float, and the water is so salty that it tasted bitter enough to send a chill
down my spine!
4 October, 2015
We set off for Galilee,
which was where Jesus began his ministry and called his disciples. On the coach
we began discussing about the prophecies in Ezekiel. Chapter 37 has already
been fulfilled as Israel has become a nation already. Chapter 47 is a
prediction about the Dead Sea, that there will be fish in the future. Currently
the Dead Sea is drying up, so this hasn’t happened yet, but will happen in the
future.
The sunshine is extremely
beautiful in Galilee. Apparently this sunlight makes the place very photogenic.
We ate Peter fish for lunch (more about Peter fish in Matthew17:24-27). We have
the same type of fish in Taiwan It is very cheap in Taiwan but very expensive
in Israel. The restaurant randomly put a coin in the mouth of a few of the
fishes, and Wei Wei from team G was one of the lucky ones.
In the afternoon we went
to the Jordan River, where three people from our marching prayer group got
baptised, and >ten brothers and sisters received confirmation. One of the
reason I decided to get immersed in the Jordan River is because one of our
Baptist lecturers kept saying how baptism without full immersion is not defined
as baptism. So now I had been fully immersed, hopefully this will reduce the
potential for controversy for me in the future should I end up serving in some
sort of Baptist ministry. In the Jordan River, there are plenty of “rubbish
fish” that kept sucking the dead skin from my feet. Lately, members of team G
had been stuffing me with leftover food because they thought I was the youngest
and had some room to grow! They’re turning me into a “rubbish fish”!
5 October, 2015
Saw the beautiful sunrise
in the Sea of Galilee. Then we went on the “Jesus Boat”. Before the boat set
sail, we were raising the flag on the Jesus Boat when a spectacular view
appeared where I was standing. Jump to 1:12 to view how the normal sunlight
turned into a cross. I filmed/photographed these with my own Iphone.
Then we went to Mount of
Beatitudes, the Church of the Multiplication, the Church of the Primacy of St.
Peter (where Jesus asked Peter whether he loved him 3x, John 21:1-24), Capernaum
(where Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 16:18-19),
and Nazareth (where Jesus grew up).
We visited a Messianic
Jew congregation which has approximately 550 members. http://www.penielfellowshipisrael.com/
The pastor Daniel Yahav
was the first Messianic Jew who was made an army officer in the Israeli army.
Many years ago they used to meet at a location but they kept getting persecuted
by the Orthodox Jews: they throw stones breaking windows, spit on the people, and
put newspaper ads about how the Messianic Jews are worse than Nazis because
they believe Nazis only burn the Jews physically but the Messianic Jews make
Jews burn in hell. Then they had to leave the place they were renting and the
next day an Orthodox Jews broke in and burnt the whole building! Then they had
to meet under trees and be a homeless fellowship. Finally they are now able to
find a fixed place to rent where they are protected from persecution.
Pastor Daniel then
started talking about the fulfilment of the prophecy of the valley of dry
bones. There are two stages of restoration, one is physically, which had
already occurred, and the next is spiritually, which has just begun. 100 years
ago what is Israel today was all desert. This country is a miracle. Ezekiel
38:1-5 describes the enemies around Israel: Russia from the north (sending many
soldiers into Syria), Persia east (Iran's proposal to destroy Israel through
nuclear weapons), Sudan/Cush south, Libya/Put west. Daniel pleaded to us that when
the war comes, please remember Israel in our prayers, because according to Zachariah
13:8-9, 2/3 of the people in the land will lose their life, so even though
there will be victory in the end, it's going to be a high cost. The first feast
will be the rapture. The Feast of the Day of Atonement is the tribulation of
Jacob, Jeremiah 30:7. God will use this war to cleanse Israel. The remaining
1/3 will turn toward God. When they call upon God, Jesus comes. This is the fulfilment
of the Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 23 for more details about the feasts.) In Matthew
23:39, Jesus told the Jews they will not see him again until they call on his
name. There is already a bridge between Israel and Taiwan. God is building a
bridge between Israel and China.
6 October, 2015
On the final day, we visited a messianic Jew congregation on
Mount Carmel.
As soon as I got there, I had sensation of wanting to cry.
This is where Elijah fought against 450 false prophets. We worshiped in this
church, and Pastor Peter Tsukahira made a sharing with us:
God is raising up an army of believers from China, to lift
the arms of the Jews.
Israel is surrounded by enemy nations, everyone who's lived
here encountered conflicts. There are also enemies of the gospel within the
land as leaders of Orthodox Jews attacked the IECJ Feast of Tabernacles.
Two miracles of Israel: 1)The gathering of Jews around the
world after wandering for 2500 without a nation. This is only time such a thing
ever happened in history. Deuteronomy already prophesied this. We are
privileged to see so many fulfilment of the Scriptures today. 2)The emergence
of Jewish people who believe Yeshua is their messiah. The last time this
happened was in the book of Acts! We are the first Christians to experience
this in 2000 years!
The story of Elijah is not just about personal revival, but
a national revival. The next step is, will we rebuild God's altar in China?
Forgiveness, healing, grace from God, restoration of families, etc. Things only
God can do.
The great awakening of China: The fire of God will not fall
in a random way. It will fall in a meaningful way: precise and purposeful, at a
place of altar. It begins in our heart. But if it's only a personal altar, we
only need a little flame, instead of a thunder bolt. It starts as a little
flame but then it extends to our family, and as it spreads the flame will
become gigantic.
Israel was chosen by God to become a model nation for other
nations. It doesn't mean Israel is superior. It just meant "God
chose". For example Pastor Peter has a sister 4.5 years older than him.
His parents are stricter with her because she's older. He will never become the
same age as his sister. The same applies with Israel. God loves all people of
the world.
The growth of the church is not just about numbers. It's
about bringing the kingdom of God to earth = national transformation. Pastor
Peter’s prophetic word to the Chinese: please hurry up! And come back to
Jerusalem like a Tsunami!
As we were about to leave Mount Camel, it started raining!
They say this is the first time it’s rained in many months!
Then we visited Caesarea, Tel Aviv and Jaffa before heading
off to the airport.
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