Orthodox Jewish Church Makes Move

It is my privilege, as Chief Bishop of The Church of God, to bring the news and flash it worldwide from the famous city, Joppa, the miracle town of the Apostle Peter of the 1st Century.

The Rabbi and more than 30 members (including the building--a beautiful synagogue) took a stand with The Church of God on the Sabbath, May 1, 1962, at 11 o'clock AM.  When Rabbi Zion asked the congregation how many desired to make a stand with The Church of God and New Testament Judaism, and to believe Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to be the true Messiah (His name in Hebrew--Yahshua), the Rabbi, himself, was greatly surprised to find the large number that would go with him.  Concerning this mighty move, he stated, 'I have for a long time believed Jesus to be the Yahshua, the Messiah.'

The two sticks I was carrying, one named Judah with a golden Mogen David and Menorah on the golden crown of the broken staff, and the stick of the Gentiles, Joseph for Ephraim, was first displayed to the Rabbi and then to the Orthodox group.  This was to set off the fireworks, because he was a believer in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, believing that someday a man would present these two sticks and bring both into one body in his hand.  This represents bringing the Jews and Gentiles into one body, The Church.

At my first visit to the synagogue following a one hour Orthodox devotion, the Rabbi turned to his congregation and preached out in Hebrew and Spanish that I (pointing to me) had come with the two sticks he had been preaching to bring about the fulfillment of this prophecy in Ezekiel.

The interest continued to grow.  The following night we organized the work.  We also appointed another Rabbi as secretary for the Bishop of Israel, Frank R. Young, to translate from Hebrew to English.  He will be working with these two languages to carry on the work there.  The outstanding Biblical interest of this, as all Bible readers will remember, is that it was in Joppa in the early 1st Century A.D. when God used the Apostle Peter in the little city of Joppa in the home of a tanner to begin the grafting of the Gentiles into the Early Church.

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT...Rabbi Zion had read in the newspapers about Brother Sardonyx and myself arriving in the country with the New Testament Judaism.  The Rabbi and his wife, accompanied by another Rabbi, journeyed from Joppa to Jerusalem, and after locating our place of stay which was in the Scottish Hospice, we had a long discussion.  We were then invited to the synagogue in Joppa for another fulfillment of Prophecy, the preparation of grafting the Jews back into the body by using the two sticks.  Let us read in Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 10 and see the nature of what happened in this little city in the 1st Century.  Also note the relation of the 19th Century of the report of this article.

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* Article Written By:  The Late Grady R. Kent, St. John II, Chief Bishop of The Church of God, 1957-1964. This sermon was taken from The Vision Speaks, Volume 5 : Number 1 : June 1962.

All grammatical and typographical errors have been corrected except for direct quotations from the Author.  Thought content of said article has not been changed.