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August 5, 2007 27 Tammuz, 5767 Dear Praying Friends,
The subjects in this letter are:
- Germany trip report - Report from the city meeting - Emmaus Way news - Worship in the street - Thoughts on worship - A call for help
Report on the Trip to Germany
Thank you all so much that stood with us in prayer during these days. As I traveled through Germany on this my 26th trip in four years, everywhere I went I found two particular subjects at the forefront of peoples’ hearts: the acknowledgment of the need for something totally new in their spiritual lives and the life of the church; and the awareness of the need for the youth of the nation to arise and take their place. Knowing that in order for the word we received in 2004 concerning the Lord calling forth a new movement among the youth of Germany to take hold, the church in Germany needed to lay hold of this word for itself. We were praying…hoping for a German leader to take this vision into his or her heart. The Spirit helped us compose a one-page letter summarizing the vision, enabling it to be widely circulated throughout Germany. By the end of the trip I didn’t find one such leader…I found six. Their comments of affirmation and participation were in such declarations as, “This is not your vision; this is mine;” and “I don’t want to miss this opportunity.” Overall, everything we had hoped to accomplish on this trip was done...and much more. Several items that have been in vision stage seem to have been birthed.
- To read a more detailed account of the trip click here. - If you would like a thumbnail summary of the vision we have received for the Fourth Generation, click here. - To hear the message “Calling the Youth”, click here.
There is, however, one item in particular that we want to relate to you. On Wednesday morning a small group went to the city of Plauen. Though it is now a somewhat depressed and impoverished place, prior to the war it had the highest per capita income of any German city over 100,000 population. It was in Plauen that Hitler first issued the call to the youth of Germany to take up his demonic cause. East Germany (where Plauen is located) became an independent state on October 7th, 1949. Exactly 40 years later, on October 7th, 1989, in front of the steps of a church in Plauen, 15,000 people gathered with lit candles in silent protest over the communists’ enforced division of Germany. The next day, in Leipzig, over 100,000 people encircled the town square in like manner. One month later, on November 9th (the anniversary of Kristallnacht—“Night of Broken Glass”), which really marked the beginning of the all-out plan to kill all the Jews in Europe, the Berlin Wall came down. What began in Plauen forever changed the life of the nation. In obedience to the leading we felt from the Spirit, we released a call for the youth in Germany to once more arise. But this time it would be to bring life from the dead to the sons and daughters of Israel. A German leader stood as a representative of his generation (the third from the Holocaust) and accepted the call, dedicating his life to this end-time purpose of God. I clothed him in my tallit and sounded the shofar there in the street. We then went to the site of the former synagogue in Plauen that was destroyed in 1930 and took communion as One New Man, believing that God was going to take what the devil meant for evil and in the end bring much glory to Himself. On that ground that had been soaked with Jewish blood, we poured out the wine of communion, declaring that the Blood of Yeshua had washed away the curse. Report on the Situation with the Municipality of Tel Aviv
We give glory to the Lord for opening up an avenue of appeal. We are thankful for the many friends that wrote to tell us of their support in prayer. As things had stood, the nature of the ruling issued was in the form of a final judgment. The city officials could simply have refused to speak with us about it, leaving us no option other than going to court. Our position is that their ruling is directly contrary to a clear provision set forth in the law. Okay, let’s consider where the Lord might be in all of this. He is sovereign. Emmaus Way is His ministry and this is about His money. Both in point of law and from a moral standpoint this whole matter should never have happened. Dealing with it has cost us considerable time and money in legal fees. Why has God allowed it? To this point there has yet to be any visible sign of advancement for the Kingdom. We say this believing that all God initiates or allows will always end up working to the good of His children. It appears that there may be yet a further matter for us to pursue. For about four years we paid 100% for about 250 meters of office space. There is a provision in the statute allowing for a 66% exemption from city taxes for office space that exists only to support the running of a prayer house. In the end, the city may need to pay us far more than what they claim we owe. May God be glorified and the enemy be forced to pay back what he has stolen, with interest.
Emmaus Way News
Yea God! From the depths we cried out and He heard us. Just when we could no longer bear the weight of caring for both the spiritual side and practical sides of the ministry, the Lord answered above and beyond our hopes with everything we could have imagined asking for. Two weeks ago a dear couple and young son (David, Katya and Eliyahu Clements) moved into one of our vacant apartments to be the physical caretakers of the property...mainly David. Their gifts, experience, and spiritual maturity are such that we don’t ever have to make a list of what needs to be done. It was our hope that the Lord would send someone(s) that would care for the place as though it were his or her own…or as David put it…God’s. Somehow, in between seasons of spiritual ministry, David, a Vietnam veteran, had become versed in building construction, basic engineering, gardening, auto mechanics, computer technology, and web design; and Katya is a professional photographer, painter, and graphic artist. Beyond all of that, we share the passion for the out-of-the-box new thing God is doing in the world.
That’s not all. A long time friend, Karen Wilson, just arrived from the States to help us for the next two months; on August 14th a German brother will come for ten days of toil and sweat; and sometime next month, Rachel Williams, a former Emmaus Way School of Ministry participant, will join us for a long-term stint as guest apartment administrator. We are thanking God every day!
Worship in the Streets
About three weeks ago in the regular teaching time at Succat Hallel, Rick Ridings gave a message on the power of public worship. This was particularly significant for us, since only weeks before the Lord had impressed our hearts with His desire that we would minister to Him in the streets as we do in our Tabernacle, hidden in the hills of Judea. This last week I (arni) had the opportunity to essentially continue Rick’s message with the testimony of how God has led us to this point through a divinely orchestrated strategy over the last fifteen years. In the next few days we hope to have this message, “Taking Him to the Streets”, posted on our web site.
When we first felt the leading to worship in the street, our vision was no more than the few of us bringing an offering to the Lord. We now see that God has been speaking to others about this same thing and we realize that the vision is bigger than what we first thought. In the coming days we will be getting together with leaders from Succat Hallel to seek the Lord about how to proceed. We have some thoughts but ask you to pray with us as we wait for the confirmation of the Spirit to settle.
We’ll be going out to worship in the streets of Jerusalem again on Wednesday night. Would you please pray for us and for those who are drawn by the Holy Spirit?
Thoughts on Worship
We all know how to define the word “worship.” Its essence is about expressing total devotion and adoration to someone or something. Over the years we have witnessed many times that we refer to things we do as worship which are not. True or pure worship (is there any other kind?) by definition must not have within it any element of or motive for gain on the part of the worshiper. If the purpose of the act is not solely to bless Him but to get something from Him, what is the difference between that and idolatry? In true worship, the person of the worshiper disappears from the picture. If we are either self-conscious or self-absorbed, we have gotten in the way of being filled with the Spirit. Telling God how much we love Him is different from telling Him how much we need Him. How much of what we call worship really has ourselves as the focus?
A Call for Help
With the need
for practical help wonderfully answered, we now want to extend a call for
worshipers, warriors, and intercessors. Years ago the Lord gave us faith to
believe that a generation in Israel would know Yeshua as He is, be set free from
religious forms and human traditions, and fulfill the calling God placed upon
them as descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To this end
May God bless you from Zion!
Your servants… For the Glory of His Name,
Arni and Yonit
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